Under Her Spell
by Lorelai Love Spencer-Meraz
Summary: Bella's cousin Evie has been trying to help her pick up the pieces of her shattered heart. What happens when Bella's recklessness opens up a whole new world of trouble for the both of them? Or when she catches the eye of a certain angry wolf? Paul/OC
1. Chapter 1

_**Full Summary: When Bella's life is torn apart by the two men she loves, her cousin Evie Hazel is the one that helps her pick up the pieces. Just when things look like they're settling back into place, Bella makes a reckless decision that brings out something inside of Evie, something that puts the cousins in unspeakable amounts of danger. And what happens when Evie catches the eye of La Push's most volatile wolf?

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_**A/N: Hello, and welcome to my new story, "Under Her Spell." Hope you all enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it! DISCLAIMER: I only own Evie! Everything and anything Twilight related is owned by Stephanie Meyer.**_

_Under Her Spell_

Ch. 1

Whoever it was that coined the phrase, "Thank God, it's Friday," couldn't have it more right if they tried. It had been a hell of a week. Between the endless amount of work that seemed to pile up faster than sand falling through an hour glass, new family drama, and the fact that I felt like a warm pile of horse manure all week, I was now at my breaking point. All I wanted was to get off this ridiculously large college campus and get back to my mom's house so that I could rest. No distractions, no drama, no _nothing._ Just me and my pillow, renewing our long lost friendship.

I made my way out of the Communications building, weaving through the vast amounts of human traffic that seemed to converge on this _one_ particular path to the parking lot. I felt a wave of desperation; suddenly, I wanted nothing more than to be in my little Saturn, tearing down the 408. The path wound around a large fountain, which all on campus affectionately called the Peace Pond. As soon as I began to curve around the pond, I felt myself scuttle closer and closer to the edge.

Suddenly, I felt it. A wave of déjà-vu coursed through my body like adrenaline, and at that very moment, my body, my _mind_ felt like it had been put on replay. In my attempt to escape the horde of people, I had gotten to the very edge of the narrow path and without realizing it I had tried to scuttle again. Then, it happened, almost in slow motion. I lost my footing, and began free falling right into the outer rim of the Peace Pond, landing a few precarious inches away from the water's edge. The actions didn't feel natural at all…at best, they felt pre-programmed, and I suddenly _knew_ that I'd seen this moment before.

Normal people might shake that off. Some people might even go so far as to laugh about it and go back to their usual order of business, not even caring. But I was definitely _not_ normal. Or so I felt. After all, this whole déjà vu thing had been happening to me all week long. Sometimes, I would wake up, swearing I hadn't been sleeping at all—the dreams were so vivid! Then, BAM! A few hours, if not minutes later, that wave would hit.

"Hey. Hey! Miss! Can you hear me?" said a voice right above my head, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Uh…what?" _What an intellectual response, Evie. Epic fail._

"Are you ok?" the voice asked again. I managed to sit myself up so that I was looking at the source of the voice, a tall guy with golden blonde hair and the most piercing grey eyes I'd ever seen in my life. He was a little built, and currently, his eyebrows were furrowed in concern.

"Uh…yeah. Yeah, I'm fine," I say, trying to pick myself up. Seeing my struggle, the stranger grabs my arm and with one swift _heave_, I'm back on my feet. "Thanks for that…uh…sir." He chuckles, realizing he hasn't introduced himself.

"My name's Vince. Vince Meloni. And you are?" he said, extending his hand to me.

"Evelyn. Evelyn Hazel. But most everybody calls me Evie," I said, feeling just the tiniest bit nervous, although at the moment, I couldn't quite figure if it was the good kind of nervous or the bad kind.

"Well, it's good to meet you, Evie. Albeit, I wish it had been under somewhat different circumstances." He let out a slight chuckle, and I couldn't help but join him. He had a charm that made you feel really at ease with him. After a moment or two, I glanced down at my watch.

"So, I think I'm gonna go ahead and go. I've gotta get back home," I said with a slight shrug.

"You sure you're okay? You don't need to go to a doctor? I'd be happy to take you," he said, concern lacing his voice.

"I'm good, really. Thanks for everything, Vince. I appreciate it."

"Not a problem," he said, with a dismissing wave of his hand. "Maybe I'll see you around sometime," he said, the last part coming out more like a question than an actual statement.

At this, I couldn't help but smile. "Maybe. Who knows what the future holds?" I gave him a little wave as I turned and walked toward the parking lot, to the beloved vehicle Once again, though, I felt an odd sensation, and as I looked over my shoulder, I could see Vince burning holes into my back.

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_**A/N: I know it was short, but I promise, the action picks up soon! Please read and Review; your feedback keeps me going! :)**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**AN: Here's Chapter 2 of Under Her Spell. I hope you enjoy it. As Always, I only own my OC's.

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Ch 2

Finally, after a drive that seemed far too long to just be 30 minutes, I managed to make it home. "Mom! I'm home!" I called out as I walked into the foyer. After a beat or two of silence, I walked further into the house, dropping my purse onto the couch, before making a beeline for the kitchen. "Mom? You here?" I yelled, looking around the cramped kitchen. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted something yellow on the fridge; a sticky note that read:

_Hey Evie,_

_Had to run a few errands. Be back soon!_

_Love, Mom_

I sighed. _Well, might as well make the most of it,_ I mused, opening the fridge and grabbing a water bottle, before bounding up the stairs to my room. On my way up, I decided that perhaps a shower would be the best way to initiate the relaxation, so after making a quick stop to get some clothes from my dresser, I headed for the bathroom.

Placing my clean clothes on the lid of the hamper, I turned on the water and closed the curtain, giving the water enough time to get to just the right temperature. Then, after getting ready myself and checking that the water was perfect I jumped in, letting the hot water course over me, soothing my aching muscles.

Half an hour later, when the water was running ice cold, I made my way out of the shower. After dressing quickly in a white wife beater and black yoga pants, I wrapped my long, blonde hair in a towel, piling it on my head. As I walked back to my bedroom, I let out a breath. _Now the forgetting begins,_ I thought. All the stress that had piled up lately—school, my own personal insanity with this déjà vu thing, and of course, the grand cake topper of this trifecta: the issues with my cousin, Bella—would go away, at least for a little bit, if it was the last thing I did.

_Bella. _The name resounded in my head, just as low and hollow as she seemed to be these days. To this day, I can still remember the first day that Charlie called the house, the day that Bella went missing in the woods.

_FLASHBACK_

"Charlie? Charlie, calm down. For the love of God, I can't understand you, slow DOWN!" my mother practically yelled into the phone. I looked up at her from my book, mouthing, "What's wrong?" She shrugged her shoulders and motioned for me to go pick up the other line so that I could hear for myself what was going on. As quietly as I could, I picked up the other line.

"Trish, she's gone! I can't find her anywhere. Her truck is here, and her bag's in the truck, but I can't find her anywhere. She's not in the house, and I've called all her friends who all say that they've not seen her since she left school.

"Bella?" I asked, making my presence known on the line.

For a second, Uncle Charlie paused. "Yes, Bella, Evie," he said. "She just took off."

"Charlie," my mother interjected. "I'm **sure** Bella's okay. She probably just went for a walk to clear her head. Don't worry, she'll be home soon."

I heard him sigh. "Trish, how can I not worry? The last time I 'didn't worry' she got with that Cullen boy and next thing you know…wait, you don't think…? I'LL KILL HIM!"

I froze. I'd NEVER heard Uncle Charlie raise his voice like that before in my life.

"Uncle Charlie," I said, breaking out of my temporary trance. "She's probably just going through some stuff at school. Don't be rash. She'll be back soon, in one piece, and she'll explain everything. I know it."

_FLASHBACK ENDS_

I'd only been partially right about one thing. Bella had been brought back past nightfall by a boy from the nearby Quileute tribe (which brought out a funny look in my mom's eyes when she said it) in one _physical_ piece. Mentally, however, it was as if Bella was a mirror that had been shattered. She went into a catatonic state for months, barely speaking two words, "at the hands of that _Cullen_," Charlie had spat. At one point, he'd threatened to send her to Jacksonville.

"Charlie. Don't do that, for the love of God. As much as I love Renee, and you know I do, the fact is that she'd fawn over her until Bella went completely insane," my mother had said into the phone that day. "She just needs someone to talk to. Well, yes, I know she doesn't want to talk to her friends, but that's because they're all _there_, they all know about the situation. She just needs a fresh perspective."

Suddenly, she paused, and said, "Give me a second, Charlie. I'll find you perspective." She smacked the phone against her chest and looked at me.

I'd shot her a questioning look, and she pointed at the phone. Did she really mean that _I_ should be the one calling Bella and talking to her?

Not that I didn't want to help, but Bella and I had never been all that close, and suddenly, _I _was supposed to be the voice of reason? My look must've communicated my uneasiness, because her expression turned pleading, and she mouthed, _It's worth a shot._ Quickly nodding my assent, I took the phone from my mother, and spoke to Charlie, asking him if Bella was around.

From there, the rest was history. We'd become rather close, with several phone calls passing between the both of us. In that time, she'd told me practically everything that had happened between her and Edward (I say _practically_ because I could've sworn on my grandma that she was still keeping something from me), and she'd told me how happy and elated she was when Jacob had gotten close to her, "brought her back from the dead," as she'd so eloquently put it. I was there for her yet again when Jacob had turned a complete 180, and it finally seemed that she was coming back to some sense of normalcy.

As these thoughts coursed through my head, I released my hair from the towel I'd wrapped it in, throwing the wet towel on my bed for the moment. My blonde hair swam down my shoulders in a mess of waves. _Better comb this out before it turns into a rat's nest of knots,_ I thought as I sat at my desk, reaching for the purple comb that I always kept on it. It had been a Christmas gift from Bella during her catatonic phase.

Almost in an instant, the horrid feeling, the very same feeling that I was trying so desperately to escape came flooding back. At the same time, a series of images flooded my head.

_ Bella was standing at the edge of a cliff, looking almost as if she was waiting—for a sign, for a signal, something. Suddenly, she smiled. It was a sick smile, almost…smug, but devoid of any real happiness. She stood still for a moment, the expression still and stoic on her face. Quickly, she shifted her weight onto the balls of her feet, crouching into a diver's starting position. A new smile had taken over her face—serene, with a small tint of sadness, and determined. In a flash, she'd jumped, careening toward the inky water that waited below, landing with a splash._

My hand recoiled from the brush and a wave of nausea flew over me. _It couldn't be_, I said to myself, a knot of horror and fear forming in the pit of my stomach, followed shortly thereafter by a surge of sadness. _All because of them. Those two fools had ripped her apart, and now, she was daft._ I took a gasp of air as I suddenly realized that I had no idea when this was going to happen; every new vision like this that I'd gotten had a different 'start time,' if you would. My heart broke; she was going to die. The phone call would come later, and Charlie…Charlie would eat himself alive with guilt. _And there was __**nothing **__I could do._ The tears began to cascade down my cheeks and I closed my eyes, trying desperately to convince myself it wouldn't happen.

"BELLA!" I screamed out, anguish and helplessness coursing through me, coupled with the anger at the senselessness of it all, right before I was bathed in a bright white light.

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_**Please R&R, because REVIEWS=LOVE**_. _**Also, I'd like to take this time to send out a "thank you" to all those that reviewed the first chapter. I truly do appreciate and hope that you continue to show your support for this story :D**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Hello All!**_

_**Here's the third Chapter of "Under Her Spell." Sorry it took a while to churn out this chapter, but please be aware that I am trying to get these written as quickly as possible to give you all a good reading experience. As always, please note that I only own my OC's and the plot line; everything else is the property of Ms. Stephenie Meyer.**_

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Chapter 3

The light was so bright that I had to snap my eyes shut, and even then, some of it still filtered through and irritated them. I felt as though I'd been lifted off my chair and was now being suspended in the air by thin little ropes. Then, almost as quickly as the light had come, it faded out, and the thin ropes snapped, making me feel like I was free falling. Fear suddenly gripped my heart. _Where am I? And more importantly why the fuck am I falling?_ I contemplated. Before I could think about it more, I landed with a soft _whump! _

The pain that said landing caused me to close my eyes even more, and I took in a breath, shocked by it. _Why does it smell like…salt…sea salt? And how the hell did it get so windy in here?_ I opened my eyes, hoping that the ridiculousness of the entire situation was just a figment of my overtired, overworked imagination. As I glanced around, my stomach sank realizing that this ridiculousness was in fact a big reality.

I was currently sitting in sand, with wind whipping my hair around my face. Meanwhile, the smell of sea salt was invading my nose. _Where the hell did I end up?_ I wondered. Not too far from where I was, I could hear the crash of a wave as it collapsed upon itself. _A wave? What the--?_ Almost immediately, a gush of realization hit me and I sprang up from the sand, racing in the direction of the sound. _All those years of running after a ball paid off, I guess_, I thought as I bounded in the direction of the cliffs, moving at what I thought was an incredible speed. Then, I saw her.

She was as I'd seen her in my vision, completely still, almost as if waiting for a sign, and too soon for my liking, she began to crouch into a diver's position. Suddenly, the déjà vu feeling ran through me and I pumped my legs harder against the sand. I wasn't too far now, and I was determined. _That WON'T be her fate, damn it!_

"Bella!!! Bella, STOP!" I yelled. For a second, she stood upright, as if she'd been given a shock with lightning. She shook her head vigorously and quickly resumed her position. I suddenly realised that she probably thought I was a figment of her imagination.

"BELLA! BELLA _**FUCKING**_ SWAN YOU BETTER STEP AWAY FROM THAT DAMN EDGE OR I WILL PERSONALLY KICK THE MERDE OUT OF YOU!" I shouted, now just a few mere feet from her.

As I said those words, she spun around in my direction, right before I slammed into her, sending her to the ground and getting her out of that damn crouch. Quickly, I got off of her and helped her up, while she looked at me in disbelief.

"Bella?" I asked, waving a hand in front of her face. We'd been standing up for a good two minutes and she still looked catatonic and it was scaring me. Then, all at once, she broke from her state and launched herself at me, enveloping me in a hug.

"Oh my God, Evie, what are you doing here?" she said, squeezing me hard. After a moment, she pulled back and looked over me, confused wonder in her eyes. I smirked back at her."I can't believe you're here!" she said, hugging me again, almost breaking my back. Normally, I would've minded the vice-like grip, but the overwhelming joy of knowing that I had saved her blocked all that. I had stopped something that would've destroyed many lives, more importantly hers. When she pulled away from me, I took an opportunity and slapped her across the face.

Her mouth formed into an 'o' from shock. "What the hell was that for?" she said, rubbing her cheek. In response, I let out an incredulous gasp.

"I should do a lot more for what you were about to do, Bella. What the hell were you thinking? And, in answer to your question, I'm obviously saving your reckless butt. So once again, _what were you freakin' thinking?"_

Bella's eyes watered, and for a moment, she looked like she'd lost her soul again. It took all I had in me to not break down and hug her, and tell her that it would be okay. But the joy that I had felt a moment ago had evaporated, replaced by stone cold anger at Bella. For how stupid she was acting. For how bad she could've been hurt. For what she would've done to Renee, to me, to my mother, and most importantly, to Charlie.

"That's just it. I wasn't thinking. I…"

Before she could continue, a cold voice that sounded like wind chimes interrupted her. "Of course you weren't, Bella. It's what I love about you."

She and I both looked at the intruder at the same time. She was a tall woman who was paler than Death, with red hair and blood red eyes. Once I saw them, they were all I could focus on. I felt Bella's muscles tense, and she began to shake slightly.

"You know," the intruder said. "It's what I was counting on. And then you," she said, directly looking at me. "Had to go and ruin my fun. Oh well…I guess two will be better than one."

"You're not going to touch her," Bella said, trying to control the tremor in her voice, although she was failing miserably.

The woman's face broke out into a cruel smirk. "What are you going to do? You're just a human…a worthless human that cost me my mate. And now, you're going to pay for it. With interest," she added, cocking her head in my direction.

My mind was reeling as I tried to capture the meaning of her words. She had been counting on Bella jumping, had known that she would. She wanted Bella…and now, me, dead. What kind of trouble had Bella gotten herself into? I didn't want to stick around to find out though, so I grabbed Bella and started to run. Ironically enough, she seemed almost reluctant to move, but she did. As we ran (or rather, I ran and dragged Bella with me), I heard the woman's laughter break through the air. Then, all of a sudden, she was in front of us, still laughing. _How the hell did she do that?_ I thought, as amazement and fear coursed through me.

"So amusing," she said, between laughs. "It's so sad that it's amusing. Oh well…I guess the laughter ends now." She began stalking towards us, and I gripped Bella, not sure what to do. The woman was inches away from us, that damn arrogant smirk on her face. Then, right as she was about to grab Bella, a growl ripped through the air. I looked over the redhead's shoulder in the direction of the sound, and sucked in a gasp.

Three wolves the size of horses came racing out to where we were, their teeth bared. The one who was leading the group, a large russet one, dove toward the redhead. Meanwhile, the other two--a silver one and gray one with spots on his back—circled around us. They focused exclusively on the redhead and her movements, before ending up behind Bells and I, although what their intentions were I had no idea. _Damn. This day just keeps getting better and better_.

It seemed that the redhead knew exactly what the russet one was going to do the moment he did it. Using some acrobatics that seemed like it was straight out of Cirque du Soleil, she flipped backwards, avoiding him. She landed closest to me and the gray wolf, causing him to do the same thing, moving so quickly that he was just a blur. The russet wolf growled again, and pushed us to the side and out of the way, right before he raced forward again. The push caused Bella and I to fall to the side, landing in the sand. A flash of pain shot through me and I looked for its source—a long cut on the side of my arm that had been caused by a broken shell in the sand.

My hiss of pain was quickly masked by three menacing growls. I looked toward the sounds, and saw the wolves shaking their heads in anger. Judging from their expressions, if they could even be called that, the redhead had gotten away. The russet one locked eyes with Bella, who was propping herself up next to me, and all the anger melted away from him. He raced forward and began to nudge her.

It seemed that the other two had a problem with that because the next thing I knew, they were racing over to him, trying to pull him back, growling all the while. Amidst the noise, I heard Bella whisper, "Go…go phase. It's okay, J—" Suddenly, she stopped, seeming to remember I was there. "_Go_," she said again. This time, the russet wolf obliged and left with the other wolves, leaving Bella and I laid out in the sand.

"Bella," I said, making her turn towards me. "Who the hell did you manage to piss off?"

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_**Hope everybody loves this chapter as much as I loved writing it. Please leave me reviews, as reviews=Love. I will update as soon as my schedule permits, which hopefully, will be soon.**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**Hello my darling readers! I am ever so sorry that this took so long to post...the battle against writer's block was a long one, but as you can see, I beat it! Here's hoping that you love it as much as I do. With that said, a special shout out goes to my beloved e-sister, Jacob's Lala, who is beta-ing this for me. Thank you so much for your love and support through the uncertainty, the rough drafts, the "duhhhhh" moments, all of it. I don't know how I would have made it through without you. To all my TTSOT sisters and all you readers, thanks for your dedication and support; all of you are what make the writing experience worth it.**_

_**Okay, now that the lovey fest is done, here is my disclaimer: The OC's and Plot are mine; Everything else belongs to Stephanie Meyer.**_

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Chapter 4

Instead of responding, Bella averted her gaze. The longer the words of my question hung in the air, the more the tension around us grew, and I suddenly felt like it was going to choke us it was so thick. "Bella—" I started, but was immediately interrupted as a gust of wind blew up some sand that covered the both of us.

"Let's get out of this sand," Bella said quickly, all too happy for the distraction. I huffed at her, but stood up. After wiping the sand off of myself, I extended a hand to Bella, who was struggling against the newly kicked up wind. Once she was firmly on her feet, we stood in an awkward silence as the wind whipped around us, small droplets of rain pelting us as a signal of the coming storm.

Just as I was about to ask Bella about the mysterious stranger again, a voice behind us yelled out, "Bella!!" causing us to turn. I struggled to hold in a gasp as I took in the giant figure that was bounding towards us. He appeared to be well over 6'5, with muscles in every place imaginable (even where I didn't know muscles could exist). His russet skin was glistening now with the drops of the rain that were hitting it, as was his jet black hair.

"There you are," he said, coming to a full halt once he'd reached us. "I've been looking all over for you." He looked over his shoulder and I followed his gaze to a boy that looked very similar to him (so much so that they could pass for brothers) who was running to catch up. "Found her, Embry," he said to the guy, who simply nodded in acknowledgement.

For a moment, Bella and the one who'd spoken to…Embry, was it?...locked eyes, sharing a look of complete understanding. They got lost in each other for several minutes, their eyes conveying a complete array of emotions that I didn't understand (especially humor—what was funny about finding us on the beach?), until Embry let out a soft _ahem_ and broke them out of it. At first, the other guy and Bella seemed a bit put off by the interruption, until Embry jerked his head in my direction.

"Oh…sorry about that, Ev," Bella said to me, breaking away from Jacob and putting her arm around me. "Ev, this is Jacob. Jake, this is my cousin Evie," she said. Suddenly, I found myself thinking back to the encounter with the mysterious lady and to what Bella had been _trying_ to whisper to the giant wolf. The recognition clicked almost immediately, and I had to use every fiber of my being to not utter out in surprise, lest they think I was nuts. Then again, this whole thing was nuts. But somehow, I knew that my decision was the right one.

As I extended a hand to him, I realized that I wasn't the only one going through a million different thoughts. His face displayed them all perfectly, and it wasn't until Embry _ahem_-ed again that Jacob snapped out of it and extended his hand, putting a smile on his face that seemed to only semi reach his eyes.

"So you're the Evie that I've been hearing so much about, huh?" he said, grasping my hand in a boiling, firm grip.

"I guess so. All good, I hope," I said, trying to keep my tone friendly.

"Oh, most definitely. I was hoping that I was going to meet Bella's 'absolutely best cousin ever' soon. Never thought it'd be _this _soon, though." His eyes were questioning. _Believe me, you're not the only one questioning me being here this soon, bucko_ I thought.

"Neither did I," I said. "It's nice to finally put a face to the name." He studied my face before turning to Embry. "This is my friend, Embry," he said to me. Embry held out his hand to me and I shook it as we both muttered a shy "Hi," to each other, after which a thick silence took over.

It wasn't until the rain began to pour down in sheets a few minutes later that the silence was broken with an extremely loud gasp on my part as I suddenly remembered that I was wearing a _white_ wifebeater. Immediately, Bella (and to my utter humiliation, Jacob and Embry as well) realized the reason for my discomfort.

"Let's get to my house; I'm sure I could find something else for you to wear," Bella said, as Jacob and Embry shifted uncomfortably. I nodded, or at least I thought I had. I had felt myself agreeing with Bella, but at the moment a giant wave of shivers took over my body, showing to the whole world just how cold I truly was, probably making the motion completely unnoticeable as a gesture of agreement and more of a 'get me the hell out of here, I'm freezing,' move. I mean, sure, Orlando had cold rain, but never to this extreme. I wrapped arms around myself in a sad attempt to warm up a bit to no avail.

"Actually, Bells, that might not be the best idea," Jacob said, casting a worried glance at me. Bella glared back at him, slackjawed.

"Jesus, Bella, all I'm saying is that your cousin looks like she's about ready to freeze to death, and you're soaked too. It'd be better if we took you both to my house so you could warm up first, get a bit dryer, and then get you over to Charlie's. Besides, he's probably still at the hospital."

At the word 'hospital,' Bella and I both gasped. I tried to speak, but the shivering that had overtaken my body overrode my ability to speak. "W-w-why?" I managed to squeak out before I was completely overcome. Bella was just about to continue the questioning, but Jacob had caught on to what I was intending to ask.

"He's not hurt. He's at the hospital because of Harry," he explained. Bella's eyes widened in what I could only assume was recognition.

"Harry Clearwater? What's wrong with him?" Bella asked. Jacob and Embry exchanged a worried glance, and then Embry spoke.

"He had a heart attack this morning. After pa—work, Emily had the news for us, so a lot of us went to go make sure that Sue, Leah, and Seth were holding up okay." Bella nodded, before giving a slight shake, showing that I wasn't the only one freezing.

Spotting this, Jacob turned to Embry. "Do you want to take Bella or Evie?" My eyebrows narrowed in confusion.

"What about my car, Jake?" Bella said. "I can't just leave it here." _Seriously, Bella? This guy talks about 'taking' you and me, although how or why isn't made clear, and all you can worry about is the stupid car?_ I thought.

"Me or Embry can pick it up for you later. Right now, we need to get you home," Jake said, persistence in his voice.

"I really don't feel comfortable just leaving it here. Maybe Embry could run me out to the truck and we'll meet you back at your house."

Jacob didn't seem too fond of the idea. "But, Bells—"

"Don't worry, Jake, I'll look out for her. And besides, you're the only one that has the keys to the house," Embry interrupted. "Nice to meet you, Evie. I guess we'll see you at the house."

"See you in a bit, Ev," Bella said. "And Jake, take care of her."

Before I could protest, Embry had put Bella on his back and they had sped off, leaving Jacob and I standing under a torrent of rain, surrounded by an awkward silence. My mind was spinning with questions, confused by this whole turn of events, especially by Embry and Bella's sudden disappearance and the boy's timely arrival before the downpour.

I shivered once again, effectively breaking the silence and making Jake come closer to me, holding out his hand. I must've subconsciously recoiled because he shot me a grin. "Come on, Evie. You're safe with me; I don't bite," he said, sarcasm laced into the last part of the sentence. Making a mental note of that sarcasm, I stepped forward. In one swift motion, he had swept me into his arms, crushing my body to his as much as possible.

"What the hell?!" I exclaimed. "What are you doing?" I asked as he began to run down the beach. As his feet pounded against the sand, I couldn't help but notice that Jake was boiling hot, almost like a sauna. The heat was so comforting that I almost wanted to forget the circumstances of why I was even up against his chest, but a low, rumbling laugh kept me from falling into that oblivion.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" he said. "I'm taking you back to my house. Wouldn't want you to freeze to death and get sick. "

"I highly doubt that _running through the rain_ is going to prevent me from getting sick, Jacob. You know, what with the water and all," I answered sarcastically.

"Are you getting wet?" he asked me. In truth, he had positioned himself in such a way that he was the one getting most of the water, whereas I was only getting my feet wet.

"Well…no," I mumbled. "But it's the _principle_ of it that counts," I muttered under my breath. Another rumbling laugh broke through the air and I looked up at him curiously. Apparently, I hadn't been as quiet as I intended.

"You've got nothing to worry about," he said. "Because—we're—here." He skidded to a stop in front of a tiny red house that looked somewhat old, but ruggedly pretty. "Huh…that's odd," he said as he walked up to the house, interrupting my observation of it.

"What is?"

"Oh, nothing really. I just thought that since Bells and Embry would be here by…Oh, well speak of the devils," he said as his cell phone blared a ringtone. He stepped onto the porch and set me down onto my feet so he could answer. "Hey Bells, I was just wondering where you were…Why did you go down to Charlie's?..You're going to get sick…" For a second, Jake's face clouded with anger. "Yeah, I guess that is a plus. Okay, so you and Embry will be back soon, then? Okay, we'll see you in a bit." Jacob closed his phone and turned to look at me.

"So I'm guessing that was Bella," I said. "What'd she say?"

"Well, Bella being the stubborn one that she is, decided that she'd rather drive out to Charlie's and get changed and grab some clothes for you in the process instead of, and I quote, 'leaving you in a state of indecency," he said, putting air quotes around that expression before breaking out a grin so bright that it made the sun look like a firefly. In an instant, I could see why Bella liked him so much, and pretty soon, his smile made one appear on my face. "Let's get you inside…certainly don't want Bella thinking you weren't taken care of or she'd have my hide."

Unlocking the door, Jacob led me into his cozy looking living room. "Make yourself at home," he said, directing me to a small brown couch on the far side of the room. As soon as I'd sat down, he rushed upstairs and came back a few minutes later with a large quilt, which he proceeded to wrap around me. "I'm going to make you some tea, okay? Just sit tight." I nodded before he shot me a friendly smile and darted off to the kitchen, leaving me alone in the living room.

I glanced around the room, drinking in all of my surroundings. The wall opposite the couch had what I assumed were family photos hanging on quite a large majority of it, only stopping where a small mahogany bookcase began. Most of the room had an old, rustic yet homey feeling about it that was only accentuated by the small brown loveseat and recliner that sat diagonally across from me. I smiled faintly; the recliner looked very similar to one that my mom had at home.

Home. In all of the confusion, I had honestly forgotten all about having been there, or more importantly, how I'd even gotten here. Suddenly, I remembered the note that I'd seen before going to shower and my mind went into a full blown panic. What if my mother had come back from the store while I'd been playing superhero for Bella? It wasn't as if she'd be able to contact me; I'd left my cell phone at home. Blanching at the thought of my mother freaking out and calling the entire police force in Orlando to find me, I made a mental note to ask Bella to let me borrow her phone as soon as possible.

"Something wrong?" asked Jacob, choosing that precise moment to walk back into the living room, holding out a cup of tea for me.

"N-no, not at all, just thinking," I answered, gratefully accepting the cup of tea. For a second, it looked like Jacob was going to say something about my awkward moment, but he just shrugged it off.

"Bet you're missing the Orlando sun, aren't you?" he said as he spotted me shiver again, though this time it wasn't as violent of a shiver as the others had been.

I laughed dryly. "What sun, Jacob? Our weather has been nothing _but_ cold this winter."

Jacob shot me a look of surprise. "I thought Florida was all sunshine, all the time."

"Psh, I wish," I said, rolling my eyes. "The weather is bipolar. One day, it could be nice and sunny, and then it's like, 'Nope, you're getting too used to the heat, here's a cold front.' It _really_ needs to hurry up and make up its mind."

At that, Jacob started laughing, and soon, his laughter had spread to me, which is exactly how Bella and Embry found us when they walked in about five minutes later.

"What's funny?" asked Embry.

"Evie. Her sarcasm's amazing," Jacob replied.

"Sarcasm already, Evie?" Bella said, tossing me some clothes. I noticed that she had taken some time to change over at Uncle Charlie's. "What did Jake do to deserve that torture?"

"Hardy har har," I said, giving her a light punch on the shoulder when she came to sit by me.

"Jeez, is that the thanks I get for the clothes? Maybe I should just let sit in those wet clothes," she countered, reaching for them.

My eyes went wide, causing Jake and Embry to laugh at my expression. "No, no, no, you're _not_ taking those clothes away!" I said, hiding them behind my back.

"If you don't want me to take them away, maybe you should go change," she said teasingly.

I glanced around the room and said, "Sure, Bells, I'll just duck into the invisible closet over there. Or would you rather I gave the boys a free show?"

Jacob at least had the decency to look at least a bit scandalized. "As sure as I am that Embry would enjoy that," he said, indicating his friend who had a lustful look in his eye, before smacking him upside the head. "You can borrow my room to get changed."

I stood up while thanking Jacob and Bella profusely for everything, and after Jacob pointed me in the right direction to get to his room, I headed down the hall.

"Hey Ev," called Bella from the living room. "When you get done, it's time for you and me to catch up."

Something in her voice told me that she was going to be asking some hard questions, and honestly, I didn't want to have any awkward pauses with the boys around. _Better get the hard stuff out off the way in private._

"Just come with me, Bells," I said, attempting to add some lightness to my voice. "We can start the party and get all the _girly_ stuff out of the way, give the boys some "bonding" time."

"You sure?" she called back.

"Of course! We've got a lot of ground to cover!" I said. _Damn if that ain't the truth._

A minute or two later, Bella was behind me and we made our way to Jacob's room silently, both not really knowing what to expect when we got in there. _Here goes nothing._

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**Okay loves, there it is! Please leave reviews, because as always, reviews=love, and they are what keep me going. I promise that I won't keep you waiting too long for Chapter 5, where we get to see a bit into Jacob's head and who knows...maybe we'll have an appearance by our true hero? ;D PLEASE REVIEW!**_


	5. Chapter 5

**_Hello again, readers! Sorry that this chapter took so long to write; my schedule has gotten CRAZY, especially because we're almost done with Spring term. I'd just like to take a moment to thank all of you, the readers and reviewers, because you are what keep this story alive. I'd also like to th'tank my beta and sister, Jacob's Lala, because without her undying support, endless love, and ability to make the world just a bit brighter, this wouldn't be possible. With that said, please note that I only own Evie (and any other OC's) and the plot. On with the story!

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Chapter 5

JACOB'S POV

A moment or two after Bella had taken off after Evie down the hall, I heard the door close and knew that they were safely tucked away in my room, which meant that Embry and I could finally address the thoughts that had been bombarding us both.

"Damn that leech," I swore, taking a seat where Evie had been a moment ago and slamming my hand down on the arm of the couch.

Embry took a seat in the recliner. "Don't worry, Jake. We'll get her soon enough. One day she'll get careless, and we'll be right there to take advantage."

I scoffed angrily. "When is that day going to come, Embry? When? When that redheaded bitch finally gets her hands on Bella? Or maybe the moment right after she kills her she'll be so delirious from victory that we can all rip her apart but by then it won't even matter because she'll be dead!" I said, my voice getting louder.

"Shhh!" hissed Embry as he reached over and punched me in the arm. "Shut up! Did you forget that Bella and her cousin are just down the hall?! And besides, today's little incident can't be put entirely on the leech."

I growled at him. "Just what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Embry shrank back a bit and was just about answer me when the door opened and Paul strode in, plopping down next to me on the couch. "What did I miss?" he asked, his usual dark expression on his face.

"Nothing, just Embry being a prick." Before Embry could protest, I turned toward him. "Any news on Harry's condition?"

Paul's already dark expression got even darker if it was possible. "It's very touch and go at this point. There are tiny moments where he gets worse, and then he'll get stable. None of the doctors know what to say right now except that all we can do is sit and wait, which is part of the reason why I'm here." My face and Embry's must've conveyed our confusion because Paul was quick to explain himself. "I managed to get a moment with Sam and fill him in on _everything_ that happened this morning," he said, giving me a pointed look. I knew that look. That look meant that he had somehow managed to get Sam to phase in and he'd seen _everything._

"Damn it, what did you do that for?" I said, knowing that Sam had probably not enjoyed seeing me fawning over Bella and letting her almost expose our secret.

"You know damn well that I couldn't help that, Jake. He wanted an update; what was I supposed to do? Try and block him out and say, 'Oh, sorry, Jake was being a fuzzy hearted idiot and risked our secret and I can't let you see'? Needless to say, Sam wants to have a word with you the next time you phase in. I'd start bracing for it, because with everything that's going, Sam's fuse is very short, shorter than mine." Embry tried and failed to mask a snort, causing Paul to look at him.

"Keep it down," I said, suddenly remembering my anger with Embry. "The girls are in my room."

"Why?" Paul asked, his disapproval obvious on his face.

I scoffed. "What was I supposed to do, let them both freeze? Bella brought her cousin some clothes and she's getting changed." Paul just let out a grunt before standing and walking into my kitchen. A moment later, he'd returned with three Cokes. He chucked one at me and one at Embry before popping the last one open for himself. "Way to ask permission," I said sarcastically.

"Looks like Evie's rubbing off on you," Embry interjected, before I silenced him with a look.

"Hey at least I was nice enough to grab one for you and Embry. Speaking of, what's this about Embry being a prick?" Paul said.

I shot Embry another scathing look. "According to Embry, today's little incident was somewhat Bella's fault and not entirely on the leech."

For a second, Paul looked bored. "Well, he's right," he said, as though he was stating the most obvious thing in the world. Embry looked as though he had just won the lottery.

"Thank you! See, I'm not the only one, so start throwing your PMS'y looks at him too!" he exclaimed.

"You can't be serious!" I said to Paul angrily. "It's not her fault that a psycho vamp is after her hide!"

"You're right, it's not. But she knows the damn risk, so what the hell was she doing out on that cliff, huh? If it wasn't for her cousin—"

"Evie," I interjected.

Paul rolled his eyes. "Right, Evie…well anyway, point is that if Evie hadn't intervened when she did, who knows what would've happened to our resident vamp lover…all right, all right, _Bella then. Relax, Jacob; God, you look as though I just called her Bride of Satan," he said, adding that last part after noticing my face, which was currently contorted in what I could only assume was an expression of rage._

"That's not it," I growled, standing up and shuffling around the living room, facing away from my brothers. As I said it, I couldn't help but wish that it had been Paul's dumb nickname for Bella that had set me off instead of that other notion in the back of my mind that was gnawing away at me like a mouse gnaws at a wheel of Swiss.

"Well then what is it that's got you all twisted?" Embry prodded, his voice showing his annoyance, both at the whole subject and at me padding up and down across the living room floor.

"It's the fact that he's right!" I hissed angrily as I turned and pointed to Paul. "I mean, Jesus, if she hadn't popped in when she did…" Suddenly, my mind was rocketed back to when I'd first seen her pop in, and something occurred to me.

"How the hell did…?" I mused, not bothering to finish my thoughts as my head swam with all the thoughts and images of the incident from earlier.

"How the hell did what?" asked Embry.

"How did Evie manage to get down to the beach?" I asked. Embry looked at skeptically, and Paul just scoffed, not understanding what the big deal was. "It's like one second Bella's on that cliff about to jump, and the next, there's this girl running after her and knocking into her full force."

"Maybe your back was turned, or maybe you were too focused on Bella to notice her running up," Paul said in a flat tone.

I shook my head in frustration. "No. That's not it, I know it!" I got closer to Embry and Paul. "Come on, you know that our minds are one in the same when we're phased. You _both_ saw what I saw."

"All I was focused on was my border; until you actually sent out the 'silent alarm' that the leech was close, your thoughts were really blips on the radar. Hell, even when we were fighting, my only focus was that stupid leech," Paul said, making me sigh in frustration.

"What about you, Embry? Please don't make me seem like a crazy guy!" I practically begged. Embry stayed quiet for a minute and his face contorted in concentration. In that instant, I could see that he had gone through every moment I'd seen in my mind—moments that had become his own—and he saw that I was right.

"How could that be?" Embry said, in a voice that let me know I had every reason to be confused.

"Oh, don't tell me you're jumping on that crazy train now too!" Paul said, agitated.

"He's right! Look, I know you said that our thoughts were just blips on the radar—believe me, I wish I could make some of your thoughts blips on the radar, you horn dog—but I'm sure if you were to tap into them and stop focusing on every woman that you ever have and will chase after…"

Paul cut him off with a firm slap to the back of the head. "One, it's not my fault that they're so hot. Two, I'm sure it's no big deal."

I snorted and made my way back to the couch before collapsing on it. "Trust us, Paul. It's a _huge_ deal."

Paul rolled his eyes, but I could see him shift his focus and much like what had happened to Embry, the realization hit him like a ton of bricks, causing me to smirk in triumph. However, instead of glowering at me, attempting to slap me upside the head, or coming back with a snarky remark, Paul just sat there, stunned into absolute silence. Several times, it seemed as though he was going to say something, but instead, the creases in his forehead deepened as his contemplation continued.

"Dear God, would you say something? I'm not used to you being the serious one, leave that to Sam," said Embry, chucking his now empty soda can at Paul's head, frustrated at how solemn our usually fire-tongued, spit-fire brother had become.

After another drawn out, tense few minutes, Paul let out a breath and it was easy to tell that he was trying to mask just how perplexed he really was. Finally, after shifting his weight a bit on the couch, he managed to speak.

"You know, you'd think that seeing as how we explode into giant balls of fur, particularly when we're angry, and we have to defend and protect people from immortal, granite leeches, we'd kinda be okay with that whole popping in out of thin air but…no. No way; it's just…it's weird. And don't either of you think of saying anything close to 'I told you,' or I'll kick your a—"

"Shh, shhh, hold on," I said, effectively cutting off Paul's rather typical butt kicking threat. My ears began to prick and I focused in on the words that we had all been trying to block out for the past fifteen minutes or so.

"Jake, you of all people should that doing that is _not_ the best idea. I mean come on, you grew up around women, you know how that is!" Paul hissed. "Leave them alone!"

"He's right," said Embry, straightening up in the recliner.

"Shut up! This might be the only way to get the answers we need!" I muttered, not giving a damn if it seemed absolutely ridiculous. Besides, they were in my house. Technically, I was allowed to know what was going on under my own roof, wasn't I?

"I wonder how you would feel if they used your rationale on us?" Paul asked, sarcasm evident in every word.

"Hey, if you don't like it, find someone else who's willing to let you mooch all their food and put up with you at the moment. Otherwise, shut up and let me hear!" Paul just scowled at me, knowing full well that going to Emily's was not an option right now. House full of worrying women versus his brother's house with two very strange ladies locked away in a bedroom? The choice was obvious. I shot him a quick smirk and tried to fully tune in to what they were saying.

"Bella," I heard Evie say. "Once again, I'm going to ask this: what the hell were you thinking? It isn't like you to be all reckless like this. What's gotten into you?"

"Nothing! Look, Jake promised that we'd go cliff diving and it ended up that he couldn't go, so I just decided that I'd go on my own."

Evie scoffed, and I could feel myself holding back one of my own. Judging by the sniggers that I heard behind me, Paul and Embry had decided to join on my listening and they too were trying to keep it down so that the girls couldn't hear and give us trouble.

"Right, Bella. And that was the best idea in the world because you are oh-so-coordinated," Evie continued, the sarcasm and disapproval in her voice extremely evident. I could hear Bella sigh. "Are you sure it's just that, Bells?"

"Positive, Ev. Look, when…Edward…and I were together, and even when he left, he said that I should…live a little. So I did," Bella said, adding the last part in what seemed like a quiet afterthought.

"And almost got yourself killed in the process!" I heard Evie's breathing become more labored, almost as if she was struggling get a hold over her emotions. "Although at this point, I can't tell if would've been cause of the cliff diving, that psycho redhead, or a combination of both. God only knows what would've happened if I…and later those scary ass wolves—hell, are they even wolves? They were as big as freakin' horses—hadn't shown up." I heard the bed creak and I knew that Evie had probably sat down next to Bella.

"But you were there…and so were the wolves. That's what counts. Isn't it?" Bella asked softly.

"If it was just the stupid cliff diving, maybe! But Bella, that psychopath wanted you dead! She was counting on you to jump and she was going to _kill_ you. Bella, what haven't you told me?"

Paul let out a very tiny growl as he, Embry, and I heard Bella's heart begin to race. My stomach did a flip flop of worry. Would she cave? Would all of the questions and her bond with her cousin put us all at risk? A part of me knew that Bella could never do that, especially not with her own secrets about her lee—Edward—but the other part was gripped with anxiety and I sent out a silent prayer. _Please, Bella…just keep your mouth shut, would you? Don't say anything, please don't freakin' say anything._

Bella's heart was still hammering away as I heard her suck in a breath. "It's funny," she said, in a shaky voice.

"What is?" replied Evie, an impatient twinge to her voice, which I almost missed due to the giant breath of relief I took, grateful that Bella hadn't spilled…yet.

"I was just about to ask you the same thing," Bella said, her voice a tiny bit stronger than it had been a moment before. I shared a smirk with the guys, knowing that we all had the same thought going through our minds. _Nice save, Bella!_ Although, in Paul's case, I'm sure he would've said 'leech lover.' I tried not to shudder as I resumed my spying.

"What are you talking about?" Evie said, a slight uncertainty in her words.

"What aren't _you _telling _me?_ What are you doing here?"

I heard the bed creak again and I assumed that Evie had stood up again. "It was a surprise." _No shit,_ I thought.

"A surprise? Okay, assuming I believe that, how did you find me?"

I heard pacing now. "I don't know."

"You don't know?" Bella asked, incredulously. "You're the one that showed up there. Shouldn't you, of all people, know?"

"Yeah, I should, but I just don't, okay?" Evie said, her voice suddenly sounding ragged, almost as if the weight of the entire world had fallen upon her shoulders in one giant swoop.

"I find that just a bit hard to believe," Bella countered.

"I…I don't know how to explain it. I wish I did." Evie sighed. "Look…for all I know…it's just really, really, _really_ good intuition."

"What?"

Evie groaned in frustration. "I don't know, Bells! I just…knew you needed me. And somehow--" She sucked in a breath and let it out quickly. "Somehow, I showed up. Just in the nick of time."

"Are you saying that you magically just thought of me, and _poof_, here you are?" Bella asked, disbelievingly.

"I don't _know!_ I don't freakin' _know_, Bells." Evie's voice was hysterical now. "You want to know what I do know? I know that all week, I've been having these incredibly accurate episodes of déjà vu, and today, I had one. Of you. You and that stupid cliff! And I know that I was worried…so incredibly worried…because I knew, I just _knew_ that it was going to come true and that in one instant, you were going to destroy everything—yourself, me, Charlie, and hell…even Jacob…although after all the shit that he and that loser put you through, I really didn't give two hoots in hell about him—at least not until now…"

I tried not to wince as she continued. "And there wasn't a damn thing I could do. So now, .on top of being damn _exhausted_ over this déjà vu, I was scared outta my skull because I knew that in a few hours, I'd be getting an invitation to your funeral. Then, _BAM!_ I'm out there, on that beach, and I see you…and you know what happened then. You know what else I know, Bella?" There was a slight pause. "I know that I don't know how I got here, and that even though I am so grateful to whatever it is that sent me here, all I want…no, all I _need_ is to get the hell outta here and sort through this giant mess. I need to go _HOME!"_ She yelled out the last bit, and suddenly, Bella's heart rate began going through the roof. All of us heard her scuttle for the door and we quickly tried to act as though we hadn't heard a word.

Bella burst into the living room, a wild look in her eyes that I had only seen on her once before—when Paul had phased right after she smacked him (thanks to the pack mind)—and I instantly stood up and strode over to her.

"Bella," I said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Bella, honey, what's wrong?"

She quickly looked me in the eyes, before her gaze moved onto the other boys. Her breathing was surprised and erratic, and her next words came out in a whisper.

"She's gone. You guys…Evie's gone."

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**_Thanks for reading! Please review because reviews=inspiration=faster chapters!_**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: First and foremost, I want to apologize for the insanely absurd amount of time that it took me to get this chapter out. Writer's block is absolutely the worst thing EVER, and when that's combined with an extremely stressful Summer Semester, this kinda stuff occurs. Thankfully, I am over one of those humps and I present to you Ch. 6 of **_**Under Her Spell.**_** I hope you enjoy this latest installment, and please know that I will not keep you waiting an insane amount of time for Ch. 7; as a matter of fact, if you could please take the time to vote on the poll on my page, Ch. 7 will come along much more smoothly, so VOTE! Thank you to all the readers, new and old, who have either reviewed, put me/the story on their favorite list, on their alert list or whatever. You are greatly and truly appreciated.

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Disclaimer: As always, all of the characters of the Twilight Saga are owned exclusively by S. Meyer and her publishing company. I only own the original characters and the plot.

With that said, on with the show!

Chapter 6

EVIE'S POV

"… I need to go _HOME!"_

As soon as the last word left my mouth, the blinding light and tiny ropes that had transported me to the beach were back and once again, I was suspended in midair. However, when the ropes snapped this time, I landed (albeit a little bit shakily) on my feet.

"I was beginning to wonder when you'd get back," I heard my mom say as I shook my head with my eyes closed, trying to regain my bearings. I felt Mom put a hand on my shoulder and guide me a few paces before pushing me down into what I assumed was a chair. My mind suddenly went into overdrive. _How long have I been gone? Did Mom __**really**__ just see me pop back in? Why is she so calm? And more importantly, what the hell is going on?_

"Evie…Evie, baby, calm down, everything's okay." Apparently, I had begun hyperventilating and Mom was now rubbing circles on my back trying to get me to calm down. Rubbing my eyes, I was finally able to clear my vision and see that I was in the kitchen, sitting at my small kitchen table. "The first time's always a bit of a doozy. You'll get used to it," she continued. _That got my attention._

Mom made her way to the chair next to mine and sat down. "What do you mean? What exactly am I supposed to get used _to_? What the hell is wrong with me?" I said, the questions coming out a lot faster than I'd intended.

"Evie, nothing's wrong with you…" she started, but stopped when she got a look at my arm. "Except for that. What happened to your arm?"

I looked down at my arm and was almost surprised to see the cut there. In all the confusion, I'd completely forgotten that I'd even gotten it, and I was relieved to see that it hadn't bled all that much; just a small line of blood that would probably scab up soon enough.

"I got cut by a shell. But don't change the subject. What the heck is going on?" Mom waved a hand dismissively.

"A shell? I'm assuming you went to a beach then. Although, it seemed you were heading for Bella with that scream you let out—"

Something inside me snapped just then. I was tired…tired of the mystery, the dismissals, the secrets, _all of it_.

"Oh for Pete's sake!" I shouted, standing up from my chair and grabbing my mother by the shoulders. "Would you _stop_?"

My mother gave me a surprised look and her eyes blazed. It seemed as though she was fighting against herself to hold back from putting me in my place for acting that way toward her, and although I knew subconsciously that I should be very, _very_ afraid and that I should probably try to get a hold of myself, I didn't care.

"Stop skirting around the damn issue, Mom, and just tell me! What. The hell. Is wrong. With me?"

The fire in my mother's eyes grew. "Step _back_, Evie, and calm down. I'll explain everything but if you don't step back right now, I might be forced to kick your ass first," she said in deadly calm voice. I did as she requested and went back to my chair, forcing myself to sit down so that Mom wouldn't kill me right then and there.

"Much better," she said, her voice never betraying that deadly calm. "Now, as I've been _trying_ to tell you, there is absolutely _nothing_ wrong with you. It's perfectly normal— " She paused as I raised my eyebrow. "Well, normal for us, anyway. In fact, for quite a while I thought that you were going to end up like Charlie and _that_ would not be normal," she said with a chuckle, obviously trying to lighten the tension. My confused and serious expression must've reminded her of the gravity of the situation because she immediately got back to business.

"Thankfully, that isn't the case and your power is _finally_ coming in. And judging from the little trip you took today, I'd say you take after me…"

I couldn't help it; I had to cut her off. "Wait, my power? I take after _you_? And what's not normal about Charlie?" For once in the entire time that my mother and I had been discussing this, she didn't look exasperated or like she wanted to kill me. As a matter of fact, she looked almost _giddy_. Giddy and relieved. She took a breath.

"Yes, Evie," she said patiently, sitting down in the chair directly across from me. "You have a power…a power that is almost identical to mine. Over time, your power will grow and change and you might even get another one." My mind raced back to the accurate déjà vu. _We might already be over __**that**__ bridge_, I thought as my mother grabbed my hand.

"Evie," she said, her eyes flickering over my face, an unspoken question in them. "You're a witch."

For a moment, there was nothing but silence and I searched my mom's face, hoping that this was all just some crazy dream and that soon, I would find her hovering over my head telling me not to waste the day. When that didn't happen, I did the only thing I could do: I laughed.

"You—you can't be serious!" I exclaimed, struggling to breathe as my laughter overtook me. "There's no such thing as…" I paused as my laughter turned rough and raspy from lack of oxygen, only continuing when I'd managed to suck in enough air for the pain in my sides to decrease just a bit. "…Witches. Ha, mom, you need to get real. _Witches_," I said again, not wanting to believe that I'd just been taken by my mom. When she didn't join in my laughter several minutes later, the impact of her words hit me full force and I sobered up. "You can't be serious," I whispered, my jaw dropping to the floor.

Mom looked at me with a somewhat bored—no, irritated and bored—expression and she leaned forward. "I have never been more serious about anything in my life. Evie, think of what happened today; it's the only logical explanation," she said, her voice low.

"Logical? There's nothing _logical_ about this, Mom. There's no such thing as witches! You seriously expect me to believe that I have some sort of weird power that makes me poof from here to Washington and back again? This is all just a dream. A really weird, really bad dream!"

"I felt that way too when I found out. But the reality is, you've always been around magic, ever since the beginning."

"Bullshit," I scoffed, a flurry of emotions coursing through me. "I think I would've noticed if I'd been around magic my whole life. I mean, come on; as we've seen today, it's not that freakin' easy to hide."

"You're right; it's not easy at all, but it's done, not just to protect ourselves, but to protect the people around us. If they knew, it could unleash worldwide panic and place them in insurmountable amounts of danger." Apparently, I still had a look of utter disbelief on my face because she continued on, an almost smug tone taking over her words. "Just because you never knew about it doesn't mean you weren't around it. I'm sure if you think about it, you'll see."

I wracked my brain for a few minutes and when I couldn't think of anything, I let her know as much by letting out a growl of immense frustration**.** A smirk made its way to my mother's face and as I glared at her, she simply let out a laugh.

"I can't believe you don't remember," she said. My face must've been a mask of confusion because her face softened. "Do you remember the soccer games from when you were younger?" she asked, reaching across the table and cupping my cheek affectionately for a minute. I nodded and she let out a smile. "Didn't you find it odd that sometimes, I wasn't there, and then, the next second, I was there, with Grandma by my side? Or how Grandma always knew when you were about to get into trouble?"

My eyes widened as tiny pieces of my childhood that I had discarded into the deep recesses of my mind suddenly blew back out and invaded my conscious mind, falling into place like a completed puzzle. Suddenly, all times that my grandmother had conveniently had a first aid kit right at her side when I came in from the backyard with an injury, or the countless times that she'd caught me sneaking out (or seemed to always foil my plans for sneaking out by loading me down with errands) made sense. So did my mother's utter nonchalance when it came to running late for _everything_. If you could teleport everywhere, why worry about being late?

"So Grandma could see the future?" I asked, just to be sure I was on the right track.

My mother's eyes sparkled as she nodded. "You see? Magic's always been around you…you just never noticed it until now." As my mother's face broke out in a smile, I couldn't help but grimace. She seemed so _happy_ about this. Shouldn't I have been happy about this too? I mean, it's not every day that you get told that you have magic powers, but somehow, I couldn't shake the feeling that this was more of a curse than it was a blessing.

Mom must've noticed my grimace because the happiness in her eyes dimmed a bit. "I know this is a lot to take in, sweetie. But I promise, the more you learn about magic and your power and how to control it, the more you'll be able to appreciate your gift."

"It's not that I _don't_ appreciate it, Mom. It's just…after all that happened today, I'm not so sure I'm the one to handle this."

Mom looked at me skeptically. "Of course you can, Evie. That trip you took…I know it was scary and confusing, but that always happens. Just because you got a cut," she said, pausing to point at the long cut, "Doesn't mean you're not the one to handle it." I put my face in my hands and let out a groan as my mother let out a questioning huff.

"You think this is about a stupid _cut_? I _wish_ it was just about a cut. You don't even know the half of it." I rubbed my face, praying that all the stress that I was feeling would melt away. No such luck.

"Enlighten me, then. What is it that's got you thinking that you can't handle your gift? Your _destiny_?" I locked eyes with her at that last bit, and fear gripped my heart. What if I had already done irreparable damage by showing Bella my gift? Had I already put her in more danger than she was already in, without knowing it, like Mom had said would happen if normal people knew about our gift?

A touch of my mom's hand on my arm ripped me out of my thoughts. "Honey…I might have a power, but it definitely isn't mind reading. I can't help you unless I know what you're thinking." As I shooknervously, my mom gave my arm a squeeze. "Baby…help me to help you. _Tell me._"

It wasn't long before the whole story started flowing out of me—the déjà vu (which shocked the hell out of Mom; apparently, if you got more than one power at a time, it meant that you were destined for great things), the falling incident at school, what I'd seen about Bella, actually saving her, everything. "I just got so fed up that I started yelling, telling her that all I wanted, all I needed was to go home," I said, nearing the close of what seemed to me an epically long rant. "And next thing you know, I'm here. And…well…of course, you know the rest." I began rubbing my temples as my mother let out a breath, and I waited for her to say something. _Dear God, she probably thinks I'm the biggest fuck up in the world. She must wish I'd never gotten these powers. Hell, __**I**__ wish I'd never gotten these powers. Damn it, I can't—_

"Evie? Evie! EVIE!" my mom shouted, shaking me and effectively taking me out of my reverie yet again.

"Wha—what?" I said, genuinely confused.

"You were about to hyperventilate again. Are you sure there's not more to the story than what you've told me?"

I shook my head as if doing so could clear out the thoughts that were plaguing it. "No…everything I've told you is all there is to the story. It's just…you're probably damning the fact that I even got these powers now, aren't you?"

My mother looked at me like I was crazy. "Of course I'm not! Look, Evie," she said, a small sigh escaping her lips. "I may not be happy about the fact that you exposed yourself, but mistakes happen, especially when you don't have any idea what's happening to you or how to control it. This is only the first mistake of the many that you'll make while learning to perfect your craft." She stood and went to kneel in front of me. "No one comes into the world—be it human or magical—knowing exactly what to do or how to do it…trust me, I know. The only thing we can do now is learn from the mistakes that were made today…and do some major damage control."

* * *

Half an hour later, I had showered and changed (yet again), fully prepped to head back to Washington. I had a thin backpack with two days worth of clothes, toiletries, and my cell phone strapped to my back, listening to my mother as she rattled off last minute instructions as I stood in the living room.

"Remember, Evie, if Charlie asks, just say that you needed to get away and that you'd been planning to surprise Bella for weeks, so you figured now was the best time. Tell him that I forgot to call—he'll certainly believe that."

"I _know_, Mom. Jesus, you've told me like 20 times already," I said, rolling my eyes in exasperation. Instead of responding, she gave me a withering look which I deliberately ignored. "Why all the secrecy, anyway? I mean, you've given me the all clear to tell Bella, and he is your _brother_ after all."

Mom got a funny look on her face. "Well…uh, I try to keep Charlie as far away from the magical world as possible." She paused, and then, it seemed as though something clicked in her head because her expression relaxed. "Besides, if Charlie knew about _why_ you'd popped in, he'd flip. That's one bit of family drama that does not need to be going on right now," she added hastily.

Something about what she said—no, _how_ she'd said it—struck me as odd. Suddenly, I was reminded of what she'd said when she was telling me what I was: …_For quite a while I thought that you were going to end up like Charlie and that would not be normal._ "Mom? Does Charlie not have powers?" Her eyes widened, but before she could ask me why I'd asked, I reminded her of what she'd said.

Mom sighed. "I was hoping that your freak out would've made you forget that." Instead of replying, I tapped my foot, eager for an answer. Finally, after a long pause, she spoke.

"Charlie...well, Charlie took after our dad a lot…and that includes being completely 'human' if you will." I tried to hide my surprise as she made air quotes when she said _human_. "He knows a bit about magic, mainly from accidentally seeing Grandma or me using it, but he shies away from it usually."

"Why?" I asked.

Instead of answering me, however, Mom glanced at the clock. "That's a story for another time. You've been gone for a while, and we don't need to worry Bella any longer; if we do, she might start talking and this is one cat that can definitely _not_ be let out of the bag…at least not for everybody," she said. I merely nodded in understanding. "Are you ready?"

"Yes," I replied, trying to keep any and all shakiness from my voice. My mom stood back and we stood in absolute silence for a minute or two. "Please don't tell me I'm going to have to start screaming to go back," I said, realizing that I wasn't going anywhere.

"What? Oh, no, no of course you don't. If anything, the screaming helped you focus fully on your target. That's the main goal; focus completely on your target and you'll get directly to where you have to be. Usually, it helps to know where you're going so that you can think of a private place to orb into. Think you can do that?"

I nodded and hugged Mom quickly before taking a breath and straightening back up. Closing my eyes, I focused completely on Bella and on Washington, or more specifically, on Jacob's living room. The now familiar light and feeling of suspension took over and I silently thanked God that I had some control over the crazy-ass power that I'd been 'blessed' with.

As I felt myself being lowered, I suddenly remembered that Bella and I hadn't been alone in Jacob's living room; the only time that it had been just us had been when I'd borrowed Jacob's room to change. I threw all my energy into remembering the layout of the bedroom, praying that I could get myself there in one piece (I didn't want something Harry Potter-ish happening to me with one half of my body in the living room and the other half somewhere else). Thankfully, I felt myself rising again and a moment later, I was landing.

Upon opening my eyes, I found that I had landed perfectly in the center of Jacob's room. _Thank the Lord; I didn't land on my ass._ As I dusted myself off slightly, the door of the room swung open with a loud _BANG_. Startled by the loud noise, I yelped and jumped a foot in the air, knocking myself off balance. Unable to right myself, I fell with a hard _thump_ onto the wooden floor.

"Son of a bitch!" I swore as Bella made her way over to me. "That has _really_ got to stop happening!"

"Are you okay?" Bella asked, her eyes scanning over all of me in utter disbelief.

"I'm just peachy, Bells. Because falling over and busting your ass feels _amazing_." Bella looked into my eyes for a moment, upset at having pissed me off with that ridiculous question, before realizing that I was being sarcastic again. "Seriously, though, I'm good. Might have a bruised butt and not be able to sit for a week, but I'm good."

Before Bella could respond, Jacob's firm voice cut in. "Good. Cause you have some _major_ explaining to do."

* * *

**A/N: There you have it! We finally have an explanation for what's been going on with Evie, and from the looks of it, a little bit of trouble on the 'keeping it a secret front.' Please R&R, because reviews=love. And once again, thank you to all the readers, new and old, who are enjoying this story and keeping it alive. Special shouts out go out to Jacob's Lala and XORainbowTeardropsOX ****for being amazing and being my second set of eyes. Once again ladies (and gents) PLEASE VOTE on the poll on my PAGE!  
**


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's note: Okay, well, although the poll didn't get quite as many votes as I'd hoped, those that did vote said loud and clear that they wanted Ch. 7 to have a blend of Evie, Jake, and Paul's POV's, so…that's what you get. As always, I own nothing except my OC's and the plot line.**

Chapter 7

**EVIE**

The sharpness of Jacob's tone made my eyes fly over to the door frame and on instinct, I curled closer to Bella, knowing full well that Jacob wouldn't dare do anything to her…right? He stalked closer to Bella and me, his eyes blazing. "Start talking," he snarled. Instead of speaking, I glanced upwards at Bella. _What do I do?_ I thought. After all, it was one thing to tell Bella, but telling Jacob was another thing completely. I could—no, would be breaking another major cosmic rule and I didn't want to risk the wrath of the magical world. Or more importantly, that of my mother.

A thick silence and tension overtook the room as I looked from Bella to Jake, motionless and unsure of what to do. Seconds that felt more like hours passed by, punctuated only by the whisper quiet sound of each one of us breathing until Jake finally snapped.

"I _said _start-!" he shouted, bending down and putting his face an inch from mine.

The fear inside me turned into anger and boiled over. _Who the fuck does he think he is? _I tried to shove him backwards, unsuccessfully. "I don't have-!"

"ENOUGH!" Bella shouted, effectively cutting the both of us off. "Jacob, get away from her!"

Jacob stared at her in disbelief. "You can't be fucking—"

"You _heard_ me, Jacob. Stop it!"

He stood up and growled in frustration, practically stomping away from us. "I'm not letting this go, Bella. I need answers—"

"And you'll _get_ them, Jacob! But for God's sake, at least give Evie some time to get up and get herself together; scaring her even more than you did with that door slam isn't going to do any good. I _know _that this'll all get sorted out," she said, giving me a pointed look.

I sighed, not sure of what to do. As I wracked my brain trying to come up with a somewhat believable lie, a tense and awkward silence settled over the three of us, which is why when my phone rang, I jumped out of my skin.

"Son of a _bitch_," I hissed out as my mom's ringtone blared in the room. "At the rate I'm going, I'm going to have a damn heart attack in an hour!" I glanced at the phone. "I have to take this; it's my Mom."

Bella nodded, but Jacob looked more upset than ever. "Go ahead and take it, then," he said when I made no move to answer the phone.

"It's a private call," I said, glaring at him.

"Yeah, right, like we're going to leave you alone so you can run—"

"Look, I'm not going _anywhere_, ok? If you want, you can leave the damn door open and do random spot checks, but I'm not taking this with you in here!"

Just when Jacob was about to start arguing again, Embry entered the room, giving me a wink and giving him a serious look. "Come on, Jake. Let's give Evie her moment," he said. From beside me, I heard Bella breathe a sigh of relief and watched as Embry dragged a reluctant Jacob out of the room, with Bella following dutifully behind them.

I sighed and finally answered the screeching phone. "Hey Mom," I said.

"Hey sweetheart, are you okay? Did you get there safely?" she asked.

I sighed. "I got here fine, Ma. But…they know I left. And I'm guessing they partially saw me come back because I thought of the living room in Bella's friend's house, completely forgetting that when I left, Bella and I hadn't been alone."

"Damn it," she swore. "I was hoping that part of the vision was wrong."

I felt my eyebrow arch in confusion. "I thought you said you didn't get visions, Mom," I said.

I almost felt my Mom get tense. "I—I don't. I had a little help."

"From who?"

She sighed. "Look, that doesn't matter. Go ahead and tell them. Answer their questions. But make sure you're not the only one giving out secrets; ask them about theirs."

"What?"

"Bella and her friends have secrets of their own. And if they expect you to give up yours, you'd better make sure they give up theirs."

"But Mom…"

"Trust me, Evie. Everything's going to be fine." She sighed. "If you need me, for anything, don't be afraid to call me. And remember, whatever you do, keep Charlie in the dark."

I sighed. "You got it, Mom. But I gotta run…before they come in here and start arguing again."

"Okay, baby. Love you."

"Love you too." I hung up the phone and took a breath, not sure what was waiting for me just outside the door.

**JACOB**

As soon as we were away from the bedroom and out of earshot, I shook out of Embry's grasp. "Why the hell did you do that, Embry?" I hissed.

He rolled his eyes at my outburst. "Jacob, haven't you ever heard that you catch more bees with honey than with vinegar?"

From the couch, Paul snorted and for the first time in a long time, I didn't feel like telling him to shut the hell up. "Dude," he said to Embry, "_you_ just dropped your man-card."

Embry's eyes widened. "No, I didn't!"

Paul just laughed. "_Sure_ you didn't, Embry. What the hell kind of response was that to Jacob's question?"

"Technically it _was_ an answer," Embry protested. "But you want cut and dry? Fine—you weren't getting anywhere with her by yelling at her, Jacob."

I rubbed the back of my neck in frustration. "As I recall, Embry, I wasn't the only one that was just a _little_ freaked out when blue sparkles came into the living room from out of nowhere and then disappeared, only to be followed by a blue glow coming from down the hall seconds later!"

I felt a tap on my shoulder coming from beside me. As I looked down and locked eyes with Bella—suddenly realizing that the tap had more than likely been a shove, delivered with all her human strength—I knew that I was in deep crap. "Your being freaked out didn't give you the right to be a completely demanding asshole to her!" she snapped.

Paul snorted. "Coming from you, Vamp Girl, that's really funny. I seem to remember a certain somebody going completely Rambo on Jacob for answers a few weeks ago."

"That's completely different, Paul," Bella said shortly.

"How is that different?"

"Jacob and I are best friends. And he promised that he wouldn't ever do what Ed—_he_ did to me. So when he broke that promise…I was justifiably pissed. But Evie…Evie doesn't know Jake…doesn't owe us anything," she said to Paul. Then, she turned to me. "And besides, it's obvious that she's scared. Embry was totally right in pulling you out of there, Jake."

"Thank you!" said Embry. "Finally, somebody who _gets_ me!"

I sighed and started pacing. "Look Bells, I know that she's your cousin and all, but we have no idea what we're dealing with. I mean hell, you didn't know you were in love with the undead when you first started getting goo-goo eyed for the leech! We don't know what your cousin is, or what she can do or—"

"How _dare_ you put her on the same level as Ed—him! She's my _cousin_, Jacob. Hell, before you and I got really close, she was the one that was there for me. She listened to me, she was patient with me…and when you left, she was the one who picked up the pieces again."

"In our world that doesn't mean anything! It could be an act, Bells, you know it!" I said.

Bella rubbed her face. "For once, can we stop thinking in separate worlds, Jacob?"

"You can't be serious," Paul said from the couch, sarcasm dripping from his voice. I glared at him from where I was standing, knowing full well where he was going with it.

"Don't start, Paul," I said.

"I think we've passed the starting line, Black," he said to me. He stood and went toward Bella. "How in the hell can you not expect us to not think in separate worlds when we just saw a person disappear and reappear in a puff of blue sparkles? If you ask me, Jacob was absolutely right in chewing her out and he should've done more! You, just like the rest of us in this room, know damn well that danger is around us all the time. Or do I need to remind you of the redhead that's after your ass?"

Bella's eyes widened and got glassy. "I didn't _ask_ to be hunted!"

"But you sure as hell didn't run when you had the chance, did you?"

I slammed my fist into Paul's shoulder. "Back off, Paul!" I hissed. "Stop being such a damn prick!" I pulled Bella away from Paul and held her close to me. Against my chest, Bella began to shake, out of anger or sadness, I couldn't tell. I stared Paul down, biting back my growl. "Go make yourself useful and make sure that Evie hasn't pulled another disappearing act."

When he didn't move, I shoved him. "Damn it, Paul, I said _go!_"

He shot me a look of disgust and stalked down the hall. "Jesus Christ, I'm going. Get the ants out of your ass, Black," he snapped.

As soon as he'd turned the corner, Bella's shaking got even worse and I heard her take tiny gasps of air. "Shh, Bells," I soothed. "Don't mind him; he's just an angry bastard." She tried to shake her head against me, and when that proved almost impossible, she backed away from me.

"No…he's angry, _right_ bastard," she said. "If I hadn't tried jumping, she wouldn't be here and you guys wouldn't have had to go against Victoria today and—"

"Hey, hey…look, we would've had to go against her eventually. This is our _job_, Bells. This is what we were made to do."

"And it's my fault that you have to even deal with her!"

I glanced at Bella before a heaving sigh escaped me. Once Bella got into one of these moods, it was damn difficult to get her out of it. Instead of answering, I guided her to the couch that Paul had vacated and sat down, pulling her onto my lap.

"Hate to break up the love fest," Embry said suddenly. "But if Evie is going to start talking, I think we need to call Sam. He definitely needs to know about this."

Bella's head snapped up from where it had been resting on my shoulder. "What? No. _No._ At least not yet; it'd be too much for her. After Jacob's little number, it's a wonder she didn't poof away right then—you can't add Sam to this mix; she won't say a word," she said, shaking her head emphatically.

I placed a hand on Bella's back and rubbed it softly. "Embry's right, Bella. We have to. He's our Alpha. He's the one who's most responsible for us, our people, our land. He, more than any of us, has a right to know what's up."

Bella sighed in resignation and I glanced at Embry. "You're lucky you're my best friend, Jake," he said after a moment of staring at each other, making his way out the door.

"Where's he off to?" Bella asked softly.

"Well, _somebody_ had to go get Sam, Bells. And I didn't want Sam to chew me out for being overprotective of you in front of someone who doesn't know the secret."

"Coward!" she said playfully.

I tickled her in response. "Who's a coward?" When she didn't give, I tickled her even more.

"Okay! Okay! You're not a coward, I take it back!" she giggled.

With a chuckle of my own, I let her go. "Besides, if Sam killed me, who would be your tickle monster?"

**PAUL**

As soon as I turned the corner, I heard Jake soothing the leech lover. "Damn jackass," I muttered, looking for Jake's room. "She's not even his imprint and she's got him whipped. If he ever does imprint, he'll be the wussiest wolf in the pack."

As I got closer to the door, I could hear Bella's cousin—what was her name? Ellie?—take a breath. "Wants me to spill all my guts to a pack of big Native Americans but _God forbid_ her brother know anything. _Right_, because that makes _total_ sense. A+, Mom. A _fucking_ plus," she muttered. I peered around the door and found her talking to herself, bent over something on the floor.

"Is the talking to yourself part of the poofing in and out package?" I asked with exasperation as I tapped on the door.

Quick as lightning, she straightened up and whirled around. She looked so comical while doing so that I chuckled. When her eyes met mine, though, the laughter died on my lips. My jaw practically fell to the floor as I took in her eyes, orbs of a deep steel blue color. Those orbs had changed everything; everything that had held me to the earth before: my mother, my brothers, La Push, meant absolutely nothing. All that mattered now was _her_.

Part of me, the wolf side, wanted to stare at her forever, to memorize this exact moment. The way her eyes were, opened wide with shock. The way her hair, which was tied up in a ponytail, cascaded in a golden wave down her back. The way her heart was drumming, driven by adrenaline. The other half of me though, the human side, was cringing internally (as much as I tried, I couldn't do it physically; the inner wolf had me smiling, probably looking like a damn fool.) Ever since I'd first heard about imprinting, long before realizing that the legends were true and that we very well could be condemned to such a fate, I'd hated the idea. I saw firsthand what it had done to Sam, Emily and Leah and I wanted no part of it. Commitment in itself was overrated—my parents had succeeding in drilling that into my head at a _very_ young age—but when it was forced on you by some magical ties? Hell no. I, Paul Rose, was having no part of that. Not now. Not _ever_.

With a gasp, I tore out of the room, not caring if she saw my wolf speed. I heard Jake and the leech lover call out for me, but I paid them no mind as I raced toward the tree line. My human disgust with the current situation was so much that my transformation—and subsequent tearing of my clothes—was almost immediate, and just as quickly, my head was flooded with multiple voices.

_What's wrong?_ asked Embry.

_Did something happen at Jacob's? _asked Sam.

_Did the poofer disappear again?_ asked Jared.

Too quickly for me to control it, a low growl rose from the depths of my throat. _Don't call her that!_ _Son of a bitch, I sound like fucking Jacob…_I thought.

_Yeah, but why—? _Jared thought.

Embry yipped then. _Oh no! You didn't! Holy shit, you did!—_ Embry thought.

Jared nudged him and the two just stared at each other for a few minutes before bursting into mental laughter. _No way, Paul!_

_Paul?_ interjected Sam, calmly. _Is it true?_

I snarled angrily. _Yeah, Sam. I fuckin' __**imprinted**__._


	8. Chapter 8

**Note to all my readers: **I can't apologize enough for how long this chapter has taken me. Between school, as well as some personal chaos that occurred in my life, _UHS_ slipped onto the back burner. Hopefully, there are still some readers here who want to see what happens next on this epic journey for Evie and Paul. For those of you that have read and continue to read and for those that have left their support via reviews – from the bottom of my heart, thank you. On with Chapter 8!

**Chapter 8**

**EVIE**

It had been hours since Jacob's friend had torn out of the house like a bat out of hell and there'd still been no sign of him. Now, the sun was dipping low in the sky and as darkness slipped over us, I couldn't help but worry for him. It seemed that I wasn't the only one who was worried for him; ever since the guy had left, Jacob had been pacing the floor.

"Maybe you should go look for him, Jake. It's been a long time," said Bella, who'd taken to cooking in the kitchen. It was a quirk of hers that had started when she was younger; anytime Bella was nervous, she'd take to cooking. At the moment, she had enough food surrounding her to feed an entire army battalion, and she showed absolutely no signs of slowing down.

"And leave you here, unattended? _Right_, because today wasn't enough of a sign that leaving you unattended was a bad idea," he replied, his words showing just how much his mood had declined since his friend has torn out of the house. Suddenly, I couldn't help but wish that it was _Jake_ that had gone running out of the house, or that Embry had been there to diffuse the situation. Speaking of which, I hadn't seen Embry since he'd pulled Jacob away, and upon that realization, my worry and irritation grew tenfold.

"I'll thank you to watch your tone with my cousin; it's not her fault that your friend left and put you in a pissy-ass mood," I said, trying to remain calm yet firm. From his position on the loveseat, Jacob shot me a withering look.

"You're right," he said. "If anything, _you're _the last person he saw before he bolted." I let out an aggravated sigh.

"And just _what_ are you trying to say? Like I told you and Bella, I just turned around and he went running. But that's beside the point; you can be as frustrated as you like, but if you speak like that to my cousin again, you're going to regret being born, you hear me?" When he rolled his eyes mockingly, I gave him my most lethal glare. "I _mean_ it, Jacob. I don't give two shits that you're as big as a house – you mess with my family and I promise you, I'll have you wishing that you'd never been _thought of_."

"_Evie_," said Bella warningly from the kitchen.

"No, Bells – she's right," interrupted Jake, pausing to take a breath and look at me. "I shouldn't be taking out my frustration on you. I'm sorry." At his apology, I gave Jacob a small nod, silently thanking him for his apology to her.

Just as Bella was about to reply, Jacob's door opened and Embry trudged in with three other ragged looking men behind him – the last one being the friend of Jacob's that had bolted upon seeing me. "Sorry that it took so long, Jake," Embry said. "We, uh…we got caught up with something."

"Everything okay?" asked Bella. I, meanwhile, was trying my best to avoid looking at the bolter, all while not trying to show how terrified I was. These men, huge boulders that they were, could probably break me in two without even trying and Bella would be powerless to stop it. I took a deep breath to steady myself and remembered my mother's words, trying to convince myself that so long as I had information that they wanted, they wouldn't do anything to me. No matter how hard I tried, though, the result was the same. I was on edge, and everyone around me knew it.

"Everything's fine, Bella. The boys were just catching me up," said a deep, husky voice, which I matched with a large man who seemed to be taller and just a tad more well-built than the rest of them. His large brown eyes flickered over to me for a second before they bore back into Bella. "Everything okay with you? Heard that you almost took a dive today." Bella bristled but she kept her composure, putting a fake smile onto her face and nodding.

"Yeah…almost," she said. "But…lucky for me, Evie got there just in time." This caused the guy's eyes to flicker back to and rest on me, guarded and cool. "Evie, this is Sam Uley…Jacob's friend and…boss, if you will. Sam, this is Evie Hazel, my cousin." With a great deal of reluctance – or so it seemed – Sam extended his hand to me.

"Pleased to meet you," he said, gruffly. I half-heartedly gave his hand a shake and muttered, "Same," before releasing his hand and glancing around the room. Everyone was completely silent and the boys were watching the exchange between us intently, the doubt clear as day on their faces.

Jacob wasted no time. "Now that we're all together, it's time you started spilling," he said to me harshly. "What the fuck was that shit that you pulled?"

"_JACOB!_" Bella had gone from her usual paper-white pallor to a bright red flush of anger. At the same time, a low growl ripped through the air and it took every fiber of self control that I had to not poof myself out of there out of fear.

"No, Bella," I said, putting up my hand up to stop her protests. It was almost comical how wide her eyes – and those of the boys in the room – became. Mine, on the other hand, narrowed as I met each one of their gazes. As I did so, my mother's words echoed in my mind - _Bella and her friends have secrets of their own. And if they expect you to give up yours, you'd better make sure they give up theirs_. Once again, I made my eyes meet Jacob's. "He's absolutely right." Jacob's eyes narrowed in suspicion, but I plowed on. "But I'm not the only one that has to start spilling. If you want me to tell you my secrets, then you – _all_ of you – need to tell me yours." I gave Bella a piercing glare to emphasize my point.

Bella, Jacob, Embry and another boy whose name I hadn't learned yet let out outcries of protest, appalled that I had the audacity to say such a thing, but curiously enough, the bolter and Sam stayed stone silent, one looking at me with an expression of awe and admiration, the other looking at me through distrusting eyes, debating whether or not he should trust me. Finally, after a moment of more protests, Sam broke through the silence.

"Enough!" he rumbled. All at once, all the noise in the room died down, as though he had pressed the 'mute' button on an invisible remote. "How do I know I can trust you?" I surveyed him quietly for a moment, debating my answer.

"You don't, Sam," I said. "Frankly, if you didn't, I wouldn't blame you. But…I know that the only reason why I'm here is because Bella needed me. So, I'm asking you to bear that in mind and take a chance on trusting me."

From behind me, I heard a scoff (that I guessed belonged to Jacob) but it died away as soon as Sam looked past me in the direction it had come from. For a long moment, all was quiet, thick with tension that was as thick as the humidity on an afternoon in August in Orlando. Finally, he nodded his assent. "Alright, it's a deal," he said. "Now tell me…how did you appear like that?"

**PAUL**

Well, _fuck me_.

It didn't take a genius to realize that we were all thinking something along those lines as Evie finished her story. Her words hung in the air, thick and suffocating, their full meaning crashing into all of us like a speeding freight train.

Finally, Bella spoke and broke the silence. "So…wait a minute, you mean to tell me that you just…touched something and saw me doing that?" The girl – _Evie_ – nodded silently. "And…you said my name and…got to where I was?" Bella continued in an incredulous tone.

Evie let out an impatient sigh. "Well that's what it _looks_ like," she said. Jacob let out a growl, Evie's tone clearly not going over well with him, and before I could help it, an even lower growl ripped out of my throat. With a slight jump of surprise, Evie whirled around to face me from her place on the couch and I tried to keep my face completely blank (it was a losing battle). Just as quickly, she whipped back around and glared at Jacob, daring him to keep going.

_Damn. My girl has balls._

Sam cleared his throat, effectively ending the stalemate between the two. "So…you never knew you had these…_abilities_ before today?"

Evie shook her head. "According to my mother, they were lying dormant and she was waiting until they came in…_if_ they came in…to tell me. Which _reminds_ me, Bella…Charlie can't know about this."

Bella nodded and for a moment, Evie looked shocked, almost as if she'd expected the leech lover to put up a fight. Everything went silent again; my brothers and I locked eyes, each silently trying to figure out which bomb to drop first. Several minutes of tense silence later, Evie let out an irritated sigh.

"I held up my end of the bargain," she said to Sam. "Now somebody – preferably _you_," she said, turning to Bella. "Needs to tell me what the hell was going on today at that beach."

Bella shifted uncomfortably. "I already told you why I did what I did…" she said. Evie's eyes narrowed and she huffed. "_Really_?" She huffed and looked down at her knees, shaking her head. After several tense minutes, she glanced up and glared at Bella. "Bella, after _everything_ that has gone down today, now is _not_ the time to BS me. Now, who the fuck was that and why did she want you dead?"

The tension that was already in the room grew as Bella's silence continued. Jacob approached her and put a comforting arm around her. She gave him a warm smile and got closer to him, before taking a deep breath.

"Ev…Edward was a vampire."

**EVIE**

She did _not_ say that.

She did _**not**_ say he was a vampire.

"Did you just say he was a _vampire_?" I asked, just to make sure I wasn't going nuts. When she nodded, I was so stunned that I did the only thing I could do: I facepalmed.

"So let me get this right…" I began, once I'd lifted my head out of my hands. "You mean to tell me that you were about to do something completely and totally _reckless_, something utterly…" I paused, noticing that Jacob was giving me a "_Say one more thing and I'll kill you_"look. "Well, point is, you were going to do _that_ for a _vampire_? Bells, doing something like that for someone who's alive is ridiculous enough, but for Christ's sake, a _**vampire**_? Fuckin' A!"

At that moment, all I wanted to do was go over to where Bella was sitting and wring her neck, and although it probably wouldn't have been the most productive of solutions, I have to admit that I was wondering how long I could strangle her for before Jacob killed me. I took a long, deep breath to dispel my murderous thoughts. "Wait a minute. That still doesn't explain why the redhead is after you."

Bella's eyes got glassy. "Ed…Edward killed her mate to save me…in Phoenix."

I sucked in a breath. When I'd heard of Bella's accident in Phoenix, I'd thought it sounded a bit fishy; Bella was a klutz, but _really_? That much damage was a stretch, even for her. "But you're not with him now. That chapter's over and done…why not just go after him?" As the words died away on my lips, Bella flinched and I knew then that whatever happiness I thought she'd achieved was pure bullshit; she still loved that asshole, even though she could die because of his recklessness.

"An eye for an eye," she murmured. When I scrunched my eyebrows, she continued. "She thinks that if she kills me, he'll suffer the same way she did when he killed James." Bella shuddered, and for a moment, she looked completely forlorn. In that moment, I vowed that I was going to hurt Edward – I didn't know how I was going to do it, but I knew that after everything he'd put her through, he wasn't going to walk away unscathed.

"He _will_ suffer," I growled. "But not because of your death." I stood and walked over to her, wrapping my arms around her.

"She's right," Jacob murmured from beside her. "Not if we have anything to do with it."

My eyes flew over to him and narrowed. I was still madder than hell at him. "What _do_ you have to do with it?" I snapped.

Jacob growled at me again, something that was obviously _very_ common with this bunch and I almost killed him.

"Both of you, knock it the _fuck_ off," snapped Bella. "Evie, I know that Jacob has been a bit difficult but given everything that's been happening today, not to mention the shit he deals with on a daily basis, he's a bit on edge." Jacob shot me a smug look and Bella rounded on him. "And _you!_ Evie _just_ discovered her powers, saw a vampire face off with a bunch of wolves and saved me from jumping off a cliff, so _excuse_ her if she's a bit on edge herself. You're both on the same side; you both mean the world to me. So either kiss and make up or suck it up and agree to silently hate each other, but either way, the bickering stops _now_. Got it?"

Jacob and I glared at each other, locked in a stalemate for what seemed like an eternity. "Fine," he ground out, extending a hand to me.

"Ditto," I murmured, grasping his hand. All at once, the feeling that I was growing to despise shot through me and much like had happened with Bella, images began playing through my head.

_Jacob and Bella were arguing as Bella made her way out of a house. He held fast to her arm as she walked away, only to let her go a moment later. Bella got into a car and sped away and Jacob began to shake. As he did so, fur shot out of him and in an instant, there was no Jacob…just a dark, angry looking wolf._

I released Jacob's hand and my eyes widened as I stared at him. His eyes bore into me, displaying his confusion at my reaction. From behind me, I heard a growl and that was all it took; my body started to shake and my heart went into overdrive.

"It _was_ you," I whispered, my previous conclusions on the beach, confirmed. Jacob's eyes widened, realizing what exactly I was talking about.

"How did you - ?" he asked in disbelief.

"Wait, you know?" said Bella.

"I…" I paused to look at each one of the men that were behind me, whose eyes were as wide as Jacob's. "I saw," I murmured. At those words, my heart raced again right before my legs gave out and everything went black.

PAUL

As Evie sped toward the floor, I shoved Sam and Embry out of the way, managing to grab her just before she hit the floor. "What the hell did you do?" I hissed at Jacob as I held her in my arms, before mentally slapping myself. _Chill the hell out!_ I snapped at myself.

Just as Jake was about to say something, the leech lover jumped to his defense. "He didn't do anything – he just shook her hand!" Another growl that I couldn't control bubbled in my throat.

"Paul, calm down," rumbled Sam, the Alpha timbre in his voice. "You wouldn't want to hurt her." My inner wolf chafed against Sam's order, but as I glanced at Evie, I realized that I really _didn't_ want to hurt her. If anything, I wanted her to wake up so I could make _sure_ Jake hadn't hurt her. I gave him a nod before focusing my attention on Jake and the leech lover. "Where should I put her?"

Bella shot off the couch and pulled Jake up with her, before straightening out the quilt that had been beneath them. "Right here. Jake, do you have any smelling salts?" she asked. Jake shook his head, and just as I was about to get up and go find some, Sam stopped me.

"Jared, can you go with Bella to Emily's? I'm pretty sure she has some in the medicine cabinet." For a moment, Bella looked hesitant, but when Jared extended a hand to her, she stood and went with him.

As soon as they were gone, I scooted the loveseat a bit closer to the sofa and sat down, keeping a watchful eye on Evie.

"What is _with_ you?" growled Jake. I broke my gaze on Evie and stared at Jacob, trying to keep myself as calm as possible.

"He's just being protective," said Sam. "Be careful, Paul. Don't make me order you away from her."

"Don't even think about it," I hissed back, and for a second, I wanted to shoot myself (not that it would do much harm). On the one hand, being ordered away from her would be a welcome relief for me; I did _not_ do imprinting. It wasn't my thing. Being away from her might help remind me of that. On the other, I knew that hope was futile – I'd seen Sam when he was away from Emily for too long. It would hurt too much.

Apparently, my response finished the puzzle for Jake. "You didn't!" he said accusingly.

Instead of answering, I re-focused my attention on Evie and on the door that Jared and Bella had walked out of. _Where the hell are they?_ I thought.

"I can't believe it!" Jake continued, exasperation in his voice.

"Well…at least it wasn't one of your sisters," said Embry, apparently trying to lighten the mood. Both Jake and I shot him an angry glare, though I really couldn't place just _why_ Jake was so angry.

"What, did _you_ want to imprint on her?" I said. "So you'd have some sick, permanent connection to your leech lover?"

"What the – of course not!" he snapped, starting to pace along the floor. "It's just…damn…And yes, thank God it wasn't one of my sisters," he said with a shudder.

"Relax, Black. Your sisters aren't my type."

"Not your type? Please, has boobs, has your attention," scoffed Embry, and Sam – super serious, no-nonsense Sam – chuckled.

"Well, that certainly not the case anymore," he said. I gave them an angry _hmmph_ and turned back to Evie, who still showed no signs of waking up. "Where _are _they?"

"Relax, man," Jake said. "They'll be back here soon."

* * *

The next seven minutes passed slower than molasses coming out of a jar. Just when I was about to tear out of there and run to the drug store, Jared and Bella re-entered the house. I was just about to tear them a new one but Bella shoved past me and knelt beside Evie, holding the salts under her nose.

"Sorry that took so long," Jared said, more to me than anyone else. "Emily asked why we needed them and then had to find them." I simply nodded.

"Come on, Ev," murmured Bella and slowly, Evie came to.

"What…what happened?" she said softly. "Oh, fuck…did I pass out?" Bella nodded and helped Evie sit up. "Damn it."

"Hey," said Bella. "It's okay…happens to the best of us."

Evie scoffed. "Right," she said sarcastically. "Because _everybody_ deals with this kinda stuff and passes out."

"I'm surprised you didn't do it sooner," I murmured. Apparently, I hadn't murmured softly enough because Evie's and Bella's eyes flickered over to me, the latter's narrowed in annoyance. "I mean…it's a lot to take in. Others have passed out _long_ before you did," I added gently.

"Don't mind him, he's just – " started Bella.

"It's okay," Evie said. Her eyes met mine again and she blushed slightly. "I know…I know you didn't mean anything by it."

Bella looked at her cousin in amazement before shaking her head. "Do you remember what you saw before you…?"

"Hit the deck?" Evie finished, nodding.

"Well, you didn't." When Evie's eyes narrowed in confusion, Bella elaborated. "Paul caught you."

Evie nodded, her eyes flickering nervously from Bella's face to my face to Jared's. Sensing her discomfort, my brother gave her a winning smile and extended his hand to her. "Hi. I'm Jared Spencer," he said. She glanced at his hand timidly before placing her hand in his. "And this," he said, pointing over to me. "Is Paul Rose."

Evie quickly retracted her hand from Jared's and her eyes locked on me again. For a moment, it seemed like she didn't want to say anything, but seconds later, a "Hi," slipped from her lips, so soft that it was hard for even _me_ to hear. "Hey," I said softly. To my dismay, I held out a hand before I could stop myself and even _more_ annoying was that my heart did several backflips and a somersault when, after looking at it with uncertainty, Evie placed her small hand in mine. "You better now?" I said, trying (without success) to make my voice more gruff. Instead of answering, she nodded slowly, a crimson tint flooding her cheeks. _Cute._

"Sorry about that," she murmured.

"Like Paul said," Bella broke in, effectively killing the moment. "I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner. Anyway, what happened? What did you see?"

Evie shook her head and her face turned to a mask of stone, breaking away from me and focusing on Jacob, who was standing as far from her as possible. "Him," she murmured. "You…you confirmed my suspicions." Jacob's eyebrows narrowed in confusion and she sighed. "You're the wolf… well, one of the wolves that saved us from that bitch.

"You suspected?" interrupted Sam.

Evie snorted. "This one," she said, jerking her head in Bella's direction. "Almost said his name out there on the beach. Then, when he showed up and was properly introduced, it started to fit. The vision that I had…just confirmed it."

"What did you see?" asked Sam.

Evie shook her head and scrunched her face in concentration. "Jacob and Bella were arguing…Apparently, you won, because you got in a car and left," she said to Bella. "And you got angry. You shook and then…" she said to Jake. "But how?"

"Our people descend from wolves. Some of us…are the protectors of our tribe."

"Protectors?"

"Against leeches. Like the bitch on the beach," I ground out. Suddenly, the importance of that afternoon's events went up ten-fold. _I found my imprint because of the leech-lover. My imprint could've __**died**__ because of the leech-lover. Damn it, she's just a GIRL. A leech-lover's cousin. JUST A GIRL!_

Evie nodded. "Makes sense," she said after a moment. She glanced at Jacob and surprisingly, smiled at him. "I suppose I owe you a 'thank you.' And an apology; sorry I passed out."

"No worries," he said, smiling slightly at her too. "Sorry I went ape on you."

She snorted. "Who knew? An ape and wolf hybrid. What's next, unicorns?" she murmured, giving Jake a wink, and effectively breaking the seriousness that surrounded us. "Who else was there?"

Embry gave her a small wave and she nodded before looking around. "And me," I said.

Evie turned a little bit so that she could face me better. "Thank you," she murmured. "To all of you…for everything."

"It's what we do," murmured Sam.

Evie nodded slightly and Bella stood up. "I think we should get you home, Ev. Today's been…"

"Batshit crazy?" Evie finished.

Bella nodded. "Exactly. Guys," she said, glancing at each of us. "Thank you. We both appreciate it."

I took another look at Evie as she stood and nodded at us and I couldn't help but lose myself in her eyes. But apparently I got lost for too long because Bella coughed and Evie's eyes broke away from mine.

"I'll go with you two," Jake said. Bella turned to look at Jake appreciatively, but I wanted to growl. I barely succeeded in holding it back and glared at him. His eyes met mine and he gave me a warning glance.

Just as they were about to head out, Jake's house phone rang. "One second," he murmured, going for the phone. Bella nodded at his retreating form.

_Thank Go…Oh, shut the fuck up_ I chided myself.

Jake came back into the room several minutes later, completely somber.

"Harry didn't make it."

* * *

All at once, it was as if all the oxygen had been sucked from the room. All of us, except for Evie, had been touched by Harry's presence and losing him cut deeply. Bella slumped slightly against Evie and the latter placed an arm around her.

"We should head over to the hospital immediately," said Sam, breaking the silence that had settled around us. "Jake, when you get done dropping off Evie and Bella – "

"No, no…we'll go to the hospital," said Bella. "I need to be with Charlie."

"Wait, wait…Charlie doesn't even know that I'm here…besides, it'd be inappropriate for me to be there; I don't even know the family. Why doesn't Jake just drop me off and y'all can then head to the hospital?"

My heart gave an unexpected, unwanted lurch. Apparently, Jacob knew what I was thinking.

"With that leech around, you might be safer at the hospital," he said. "Since you'll be in a crowd…"

Evie shook her head. "Right now, you have friends you need to comfort; if there's trouble, I can get myself to safety. It's not like she can track me…I don't think." She paused for a moment, before narrowing her eyes. "Fuckin' A!"

"What's wrong?" I asked before I could stop myself.

Shaking her head again, Evie huffed. "If I'd just thought to do that in the _first_ place…Well, what will be will be." She placed her hands on Bella's shoulders. "You go with Jake; I'll be fine."

Bella shifted uneasily. "I don't know, Ev…"

I locked eyes with Sam while the cousins debated. There was no way she could be unprotected; then again, nobody could _force_ her to go – she could poof right out and go back to wherever she lived. As much as I hated myself for it, I didn't want that to happen – but I certainly didn't want her in danger. Sam gave me a small nod.

"Jake," interrupted Sam. "You ride with Bella down to the hospital; Paul can give Evie a ride back to Charlie's and stay with her until Bella and Charlie get home." As he said this, Jared and Embry waved goodbye to Evie and I and walked out the door.

"Bye guys," Evie said quickly, giving them a small smile before re-focusing on the conversation at hand.

Jake nodded, but Evie looked unsure. Fortunately, Bella spoke up before Evie had a chance to. "Are you sure, Sam?" Maybe it _wasn't_ so fortunate.

Before my Alpha could speak, Jake answered. "Don't worry, Bella. Paul's third in command for a reason. Evie will be completely safe."

"What do you think, Evie?" asked Bella, glancing at her cousin.

"I think either way, I'm getting babysat," Evie grumbled. "But that _does_ seem easiest. While you guys are out, I'll try and make something for dinner, okay?" She glanced over at Sam. "It was good to meet you, Sam," she said.

"Likewise," he said. "I'll be seeing you soon." He made his way out the door, leaving Bella, Jake, Evie and I.

"Bye, Jake," Evie said. "Don't let this one out of your sight, okay?" She winked at the last part and gave him a small smile, which he returned. I had to look at the floor, because as much as I hated to admit it, there was a huge part of me that was jealous. _Why should you care? JUST. A. GIRL!_

"And you," she said to Bella. "Be careful, and give a huge hug to Uncle Charlie for me and give him and the family my condolences, okay?"

Bella nodded and hugged Evie. "We'll be home as soon as we can." She and Jake went to walk out the door when Bella stopped and glanced over her shoulder. "Paul?"

I met her gaze with a bored one of my own. "Do you know how to get to my place?" she asked me.

I almost snorted at the question. Jake had thought about the drives down to her place so many times that I knew the route..."Like the back of my hand," I said. At her confused look, I tapped my temple and she seemed to get the message. She took another step before stopping and facing me fully, her eyebrows narrowed.

"And Paul? Anything happens to her and I'll kill you."

* * *

**AN: Wow...once again guys, I'd like to apologize for the ridiculous amount of time this took to post. I hope, however, that you do enjoy the update. I promise that the next update will be posted within the next ten to fourteen days (2 weeks). If I can get through finals and finish everything that I have to finish and therefore have enough time to write up Chapter 9, there's a possibility that the update will happen sooner. Please, please, please read and review this chapter. Questions, comments, concerns, constructive criticism - I welcome and want it all!**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Happy New Year, everyone! Sorry that this chapter took me longer than expected; as you can imagine, December was _quite_ chaotic what with the holidays and all. But lucky for me, I had a friend motivating me to get this chapter out to you all. I truly hope you enjoy it, and don't worry, Ch. 10 is not that far off. :)**

**As always, I only own my O/C's. Any Twilight Saga characters are property of S. Meyer. Also, please read and review. Your words are what keep this story going!**

* * *

**CHAPTER 9**

**EVIE**

As Bella walked out the door, I couldn't help but roll my eyes at her. It wasn't like I didn't appreciate the sentiment, but given that we would've been dead if it wasn't for Paul – and the others – I really didn't think that making threats was the right thing to do.

A low growl pulled me out of my thoughts and I glanced over at Paul, only to find him scowling at the front door. It took everything I had to not go over there and touch his arm or offer some sort of comforting gesture. _What the heck is _that_ about?_

"Don't mind her. As much as I love her, my cousin's just like a Chihuahua," I said casually, hoping to diffuse the situation.

"What?" he asked, his eyes moving from the door to my face. The scowl was still in place, though I noticed that it had softened a bit.

"She barks and talks a big game, but she's got no bite. Especially not compared to you all," I explained, whispering the last bit. _Who knows what sets these wolves off…_

Paul's eyebrow's furrowed for a moment and I couldn't help but wonder how fast I could poof out of there if I had indeed pissed him off when suddenly his face relaxed and a series of smooth, deep chuckles rolled out of him. Soon, the chuckles turned into a string of laughs that seemed to shake the walls of the house.

"That mental image is too awesome," he said when he'd finally been able to stop laughing. Just then, there was a loud rumble from above us and as quick as the laughter had been there it was gone, replaced with – surprise, surprise – a scowl.

"I _knew _I shouldn't have left it there," Paul muttered quietly.

"Left what where?" I asked, moving toward the window that was closest to the door. I parted the curtain slightly, taking in the sight of the rain pelting the window.

"My truck," he said as I turned to face him. "I left my truck at Sam's place this morning and since I've got to get you home…well…you can see the problem." I couldn't help but notice that as he said that, he ran his hand over the back of his neck.

"How far is his place?" I asked.

"Not too far," he said. "About ten minutes; five if I run. But don't think I'm going to leave you here while I go get it." He strode over to where I stood and looked out the window.

"Why not?" I protested. "I'd only be alone for a bit; ten minutes tops if you run. I'll be fine!"

"No way; that leech could come back and…"

"And I could easily poof myself out!"

Paul's frown deepened. "Maybe so, but it'd be safer if you were with me."

I felt myself start to frown too. "Paul, really, it's not going to take that long; go on and get the car. I'll be fine."

All at once (much like the redheaded vamp), he was in front of me and his hand, which was absolutely boiling hot, was on my shoulder. "I'm _not_ going without you, Evie."

**PAUL**

Evie's eyes locked with mine and after a moment of silence, she nodded. "All right," she said hesitantly.

As much as I hated myself for it, a huge wave of relief washed over me and I let go of her shoulder. "Do you have a poncho or anything with you?" I asked her.

Evie shook her head. "Damn it," she muttered. "I knew Mom and I forgot something."

"Crap…well...I guess it doesn't matter; the run'll be so short that you won't get _too_ wet."

Evie's face scrunched in confusion. "I'm fast but I'm not _that _fast. There's no way I can keep up with you."

My mouth almost fell to the floor. "You really think I'm going to make you run beside me?" I asked incredulously.

"Well how else…?" She paused for a moment and something clicked in her head. "Oh, no! Don't think I'm letting you carry me like a little baby. I've been babied enough today."

"It would only be for a few minutes, Evie. And it's the best way."

She shook her head. "No…I mean, not that I don't appreciate it," she said quickly. "But really, Paul. I…" Evie's eyebrow's scrunched, as if she was searching for the right words.

"Would it be better if you rode me?" I asked her, crossing my arms over my chest.

Evie's head snapped up. "_What_?" It wasn't until I saw how wide her eyes were that I realized just _what_ I'd said.

"Sorry," I said, uncrossing my arms and running a hand over my face. As much as I tried, I couldn't help the thoughts that entered my head. "What I meant was…" I paused, trying to refocus on the task at hand. "Would you like me to phase and take you over to Emily's that way? You could ride on my back."

"Phase?" She arched an eyebrow. "Oh! You mean into your wolf form?" I nodded. "Well…If anything, that sounds riskier…"

I placed a hand on her shoulder again and I felt a jolt of electricity at the touch. "You ever ridden a horse before?"

Evie nodded slowly. "Yeah, but it was a long time ago…"

"It's just like that."

Evie bit her lower lip softly. "Wouldn't it be better if I just orbed us there? That way neither of us gets wet and we get there in seconds?"

I felt my eyes widen as my hand dropped from her shoulder. "You can _do_ that?" Holy shit; and I thought exploding into a ball of _fur_ was mind-blowing.

"Well…I _think_ so. I mean…" She paused for a moment and looked down at the floor before looking back at me. "From what my mother's said, it can be done. Besides, I bought my backpack with me." I shot her what could only be a quizzical look because she elaborated. "The backpack was on my back when I came back from Orlando, which _means_ that if I could carry _it_, I should be able to get you there with me if you hold on tight."

_Yes. Say yes. Hold onto her and…_ "I don't think so," I said, quashing my traitorous thoughts. "A backpack is way different than a human or a wolf for that matter." Evie's eyes narrowed, obviously offended. My inner wolf chafed against my words, aching to say yes, to have another excuse to touch her and my control nearly gave. "Besides, you don't know where Emily's even is and you've been through enough today – your exhaustion could influence your powers."

_What the…? Paul Rose, snap OUT of it; you don't _**do**_ this gentle as a butterfly crap!_ I admonished myself. "Wouldn't want to end up in Timbuktu with half my ass missing."

Evie glared at me and I forced myself not to wince. Instead, I stared her down as coolly as I could, crossing my arms again.

Finally, after what seemed like any eternity, Evie sighed. "As much as I _really_ hate to say it right now, you have a valid point." Grabbing her forgotten backpack and hoisting it on her shoulder, Evie glared at me again. "So, how does this work, exactly?"

"Go onto the porch and wait for me. When I phase, I'll come out and let you hop onboard." Evie's glare faded into a nervous glance and I couldn't fight the urge to comfort her. "Trust me, Evie." A soft _hmph_ from her lips told me she didn't believe me. "I won't hurt you and I won't let anything happen to you. I promise."

Evie studied me for a long time, finally giving me a small nod. Against my better judgment (or my will; my inner wolf won the battle), I grabbed her hand and led her out to the back porch. "Just give me a second, okay?" I said, jogging down the back ramp that led to the yard and to the woods.

After making sure that I was out of Evie's line of sight, I stripped down and bound my clothes to the tie around my ankle. All too quickly I felt the burn of phasing rip down my spine and through my veins. In an instant, my bones shifted and fur burst from every part of me. With a yelp and a final inhuman arch of my spine, I landed with a thud on all fours.

Quickly, I padded back out of the woods and over to the ramp. Evie's eyes were wide as she left the porch and went down the ramp toward me. "Wow," she murmured, rubbing a tiny hand on my face.

I wanted to pull away. I truly did. My human side was screaming to get away from her but my wolf – so much more powerful in its true form – leaned into the touch. Slowly, I lowered myself to the ground so she could climb on.

"Oh!" she said with a start. "Sorry about that, Paul." A small laugh left her lips as she climbed aboard. She wiggled a bit, trying to get settled and it took all I had to not let out a happy noise. "So…I just hold onto your fur?" she asked hesitantly. I bowed my head slightly and she did so. "Let me know if I'm gripping too tight, okay?" I bowed my head again and her grip got firmer.

As soon as she did, the rain –which hadn't been too bad while Evie and I were getting ready to go – began to fall a bit harder and I took off, making Evie let out a little yelp.

**EVIE**

My yelp made Paul let out a bark – which I could only assume was laughter because he sped up ever so slightly. Slight or not, the increase made my heart race and I held back the urge to let out a whoop, not wanting him to take that as a sign to go faster. _This is _**much**_ better than a horseback ride – hell, it's better than a roller coaster!_

Paul darted expertly through the forest's dense cover of trees so that the rain barely hit us and as his paws – it still blew my mind that the term applied in the literal sense – hit the ground, I couldn't help but feel that we were flying.

After a few minutes, Paul began to slow down. "We getting close?" I asked. Paul bowed his head once before tossing it back and letting out an ear-splitting howl. "Holy _crap_, Paul!" I snapped, shoving him slightly. "Give a girl some _warning_, for Pete's sake!" I swear I felt him shrug beneath me. _Wolves don't shrug…right? _I pushed the thought out of my head as what looked like a backyard came into view.

As Paul padded into the yard, a sliding glass door opened and a beautiful woman with the same russet skin that Paul and the others possessed, straight black hair, dark brown eyes and three large, angry scars came out and headed toward us, an open umbrella over her head. Paul went over to her and leaned into her affectionately before lowering himself to the ground. Slowly, I climbed off and when my feet were firmly on the ground, Paul nudged me toward the mystery woman and gave her a look before darting back to the trees.

"Come with me," said the woman cheerfully, moving the umbrella so that it covered the both of us. The walk back was quick and silent, punctuated only by the sound of the rain hitting the umbrella and the sliding of the glass door. Once we were inside the considerably warmer house – more specifically, the house's kitchen, the woman closed the umbrella, extended her hand to me and smiled. "Hi. I'm Emily, Sam's fiancée."

"Hi," I said, taking her hand and shaking it. "I'm Evie, Bella's cousin."

"Good to meet you," she said. "Hope you didn't get – "

"You okay?" Paul interjected as he entered. _How the hell does he stay so quiet?_ "I hope I didn't scare you _too_ much."

I couldn't help but glare at him as he smirked at me. "You didn't. Though I'm sure you wouldn't be sorry if you did."

Emily gave Paul a knowing smile. "Let me guess," she said to me. "He sped up when you let out a noise?"

I quirked an eyebrow at her. "Yes," I said. "I take it you've gotten a ride before?"

She laughed out loud before smacking Paul on the back of the head. "Yes; Sam told him to take me home one day and make it quick. What he didn't realize is that Paul's usual speed is break-neck."

"Hey now! He gave me an order, I followed it," said Paul, brushing past us to go grab a muffin from a basket that was sitting in the center of a small kitchen table. He took a giant bite before sitting down at the table.

"Jesus, Rose, rude much?" exclaimed Emily. "Evie, would you like a muffin? I just made them."

"Sure," I said. Quickly, Emily grabbed me a muffin and a napkin and beckoned me to a chair. As I sat down, I noticed that Paul's face was a mix of emotions. "Sorry about that," he said gruffly.

"No worries," I said, wondering what had gotten into him. _One second he's fine, the next minute he's freaking out. It's like he's never satisfied._

A short conversation and another muffin later (they were amazing – I couldn't just take one), Paul was leading me out of Emily's house to his truck.

"It was wonderful meeting you, Emily," I said.

Emily beamed at me. "Likewise! Feel free to pop in any time." She stepped forward and wrapped me in a warm hug. "Welcome to the pack." I tried not to let my confusion show as I pulled away from her and followed Paul out to his truck, a beautiful candy apple red Dodge Ram. Paul went to the passenger's side and opened the door for me, standing behind me as I climbed in. When I'd buckled up, he shut the door and went to his side, taking off after buckling in.

"Emily's awesome," I said after we rode in complete silence for about 15 minutes.

A ghost of a smile appeared on Paul's face. "She is," he agreed. "Even through everything, she doesn't – " Paul glanced up into his rearview mirror as a loud rumble echoed behind us. "What the…? Huh. Looks like Swan and the pup got done at the hospital."

"Swan and the pup?" I said as my phone started ringing. "That sounds like the title of a horrible Disney movie." Paul glanced quickly at my face before bursting into laughter and as much as I tried to stop myself, I couldn't help but join him. "Hello?" I said between laughs.

"Hey, Ev…Weren't you supposed to be in Forks a while ago? You're right in front of us," Bella said, doubt in her voice.

"Paul and I got a bit delayed while picking up his truck at Emily's. Who is totally awesome, by the way."

"Yeah, she is. Well, Charlie said he was going to stay in La Push for a little while longer, keep helping Sue Clearwater."

"Ah, okay," I said, trying to suppress my laughter. "So we'll see you soon?"

"Yeah. What's funny?"

I glanced at Paul and started laughing again. "It's…it's nothing," I said. "I'll see you in a few, Bells."

A few minutes later, Paul pulled into a free space in front of Bella's house and from what we could hear, Bella's truck pulled in behind us. "Holy crap, how does she drive that thing and _not_ go nuts?"

"Are you sure she _isn't_?" Paul asked. Though I could tell he'd said that mostly in jest, there was a snarky undertone underneath it that I didn't quite like.

"Maybe she is," I acceded as I undid my seatbelt. "But love itself is nuts. Love _makes_ you nuts. And you can't help who you love." I opened my door and was just about to step out when all of a sudden it slammed shut. I gasped; how the hell had Paul managed to reach across and shut that door so quick? "What are you _doing_? And more importantly, how did you _do_ that?"

"It's a wolf thing. And there's a vampire in that house."

"What?" It took everything I had to not let my jaw slam to the floor of Paul's truck. "How can you tell? Is it that bitch from the beach?"

Paul wrinkled his nose in disgust. "I can smell it and – what the hell is that leech lover _doing?_"

I was about to reprimand Paul for the insult when I realized that Bella was jumping out of her truck with Jacob hot on her heels. Since Paul and I were in front of her, I opened my door and blocked Bella, who would've collided with it if Jacob hadn't stopped her.

"Evie, move!" my cousin demanded as I scrambled from my seat, blocking her in even more.

"Are you out of your leech-loving mind?" Paul hissed, suddenly appearing beside me. "Do you have a fucking _death wish?_"

"You can't go in there, Bella. It could be a trap – " said Jake from behind her.

"It's not! I recognize the car; it's Carlisle's! They're back, Jake." As much as I tried to restrain it, I couldn't help but roll my eyes. Bella sounded as though Christmas had come early.

"If they _are _back, we can't protect you here; this is their territory. Bella, it _isn't_ safe."

"Jake, I can't not go back to my own house. Trust me, it's not a trap."

"You don't _know_ that," snapped Paul. Apparently, Bella's stubbornness was not going over well with him; he started shaking violently. Almost as if it had a mind of its own, my hand went to his arm and all at once, the shaking stopped. Paul looked at me with a cross between a grimace and a look of shock on his face.

"Paul and Jake are right, Bella. For all you know, that car could be a rental. You can't go in there – I won't let you."

Bella's eyes gleamed with anger. "Won't _let_ me? Evie, you're my _cousin_, not my mother. Get the fuck out of my way."

I tried to let the words roll off of me, to not let them have any effect. But I couldn't help the wave of hurt that hit me. I took a breath and narrowed my eyes. "You stubborn…" I bit my tongue, suppressing the rage that bubbled inside me. "You want to go in there?" Bella gave me a sharp nod. "Fine. But you're not going in there alone."

"We can't go with her, Evie," Jake snapped at me. I fixed him with a sharp glare and, almost as if he were my personal mirror, Paul did too.

I roughly clapped a hand on Bella's shoulder and felt her flinch beneath my touch. _Good. Serves you right_, I thought. "I wasn't talking about you. I'll go."

Paul's muscles tensed underneath the hand that was still on his arm. "Don't tell me that her brand of crazy is hereditary," he groaned. "Evie, if we can't let lee – Bella – go in there, what the hell makes you think we'd let _you_?"

"You don't have to do that, Evie. They won't hurt – " Bella began.

I broke my hold on Paul and fastened my hand onto her other shoulder. "You listen to me, Isabella Marie. Either you go in there with me or you don't go in there at all. And if you even _think_ about trying to be sneaky, I'll poof you and me back to Orlando and get you the fuck away from all of this crap so fast you won't know what the hell hit you. Am I clear?"

Behind Bella, Jake was growling up a storm. "Jake, quit the growling before I go _Dog Whisperer _on your ass." I could feel Paul shaking from beside me, probably still upset at my suggestion. "You too, stop with those shakes," I said to him.

"It's too dangerous," he snapped at me, though I could tell he was trying to control his tone. "If you're there – "

"She has a better chance of survival! Don't you get it?" I asked, trying to keep the irritation out of my voice. "If I go with her and it _is_ a trap, I can get us out of there quickly. It's better than nothing." I turned my head a bit and glanced at Paul, who was grimacing. "We'll be fine, Paul. I promise." I focused my gaze on Bella. "So, am I going with you or what?"

"I guess you are," she snapped, her eyes blazing with anger. She stormed away from Jake and Paul and stomped up the steps, throwing the door open.

We were enveloped in complete darkness until Bella flicked on a light and we were met with a glance from a pair of golden eyes.

"Alice!" exclaimed Bella, throwing herself at the owner of the eyes. She was tiny, with her inky black hair cut into a pixie cut.

"Bella? I…I thought I was hearing…would you like to tell me how you're alive?" She gave me a wary look. "I saw…I mean…"

I locked eyes with the vampire. "Were you about to say that you saw her jump?"

The vampire –Alice's – eyes widened and she turned her gaze to Bella. "You told her about us?"

"I didn't have a choice - !" Bella began.

"Who else have you told? And why didn't I _see_ that?" Alice started pacing around us.

"Alice! I only told Evie, and like I said, I didn't have a choice!"

"Bella, what on _earth_ could be so important that you'd tell our secret?"

"You mean other than her _life_?" I scowled at the vampire who was still pacing. "You saw her jump, like I did. Except what you didn't see is that I saved her and after I did, one of _your_ kind tried to kill us." Alice stopped pacing and went to put an arm around Bella. "You might remember her. Bright red hair, sounds like a ten year old?"

"Victoria?" said Alice. "She tried to kill you?"

"She was counting on my cousin taking a dive. When she didn't, she came ashore."

Alice quietly contemplated over the information. "And you got away…but that still doesn't explain why Bella's future disappeared. And how did you see her?" Alice stepped over to me and took a massive whiff of air. "You both smell human…Ugh! With a side of wet dog…"

"That would be Jake," said Bella, finally moving us into the living room and settling in on the living room couch with Alice. I took one of the living chairs across from them and set my backpack down beside it. "He's a werewolf."

"Bella! Werewolves are _not_ good company to keep," chided Alice.

"Coming from a vampire, I find that statement extremely hypocritical," I said.

"So do we." I whirled around to find Jake and Paul stalking into the house. Paul moved to stand beside me and Jake went behind Bella. "I had to make sure you were okay," supplied Jake.

"Well, _I _wouldn't hurt her," said Alice defensively.

"No, of course you wouldn't. That's your brother's job, isn't it?" sneered Jake.

This set off an argument that soon escalated to the point of yelling. "Guys! Guys! Stop!" said Bella, trying to get between Alice and Jacob. But it was no use.

"Everyone shut the _fuck_ up," yelled Paul, making me jump a foot in the air. But his exclamation did the trick, making Bella, Jake and Alice shut up. "What are you doing back here, Cullen?"

"I don't have to explain anything to you," she snapped. "Besides, this is _our_ territory. You shouldn't even be here."

"Hold it!" I exclaimed, just as they were about to get into another word war. "You may not have to explain anything to him, but you sure as hell owe _her _one," I said, nodding my head at Bella. Alice winced, but she stayed quiet, clearly not wanting to say anything in front of the wolves. "And I want to hear the story too, given that Jake and I were the ones that had to pick up the pieces that your brother left behind."

Alice took an unnecessary breath and focused solely on my cousin. "Bella…we never wanted to hurt you. Edward insisted that we leave after what happened…said that we were too much of a risk for you, that you should have a normal life. So, we went to Alaska and stayed with the Denali clan. But Edward…he became a shell. And then one day…he left. He calls in every couple of months but...we don't know where he is or what he's doing."

"That still doesn't explain why you're _here_," Paul ground out. Bella glared daggers at him and my hand got a mind of its own again and found its way to his hand, which was resting casually – or as casually as possible, in this case – on the armrest of my chair. _Please relax,_ I begged mentally. It wasn't like he could hear me, but maybe if I thought hard enough, he'd get the point.

"In any case," continued Alice. "I always tried to glimpse in on you, especially after he broke away from us. We never stopped caring." Bella arched an eyebrow. "Well…most of us. So today…I saw you on the edge of that cliff and then…nothing. You were gone. I had to come down here and see for myself if you were really gone."

"You mean you never saw if I jumped or not?" Bella asked.

"No. One second, you were ready to spring and then the next second, you weren't there. Not even the faintest trace." For a second, Alice looked down at the floor and then looked up at me, a look of contempt on her face. "I can't see past you or the mutts! What are you?"

"A damn good cousin who knows how to be in the right place at the right time," I said coolly. "As you can see, Bella is one hundred percent alive." _I wish I could say she was well, but after that stunt…_

"Thank goodness for that," said Alice, rising from the couch. "I'm going to go…"

"Alice, don't!" said Bella, rising quickly.

"I'm just going to go hunt, Bella," Alice said calmly. Noticing Alice's coal black eyes, Bella let her go immediately, apologizing profusely.

"But you're coming back, right?" she asked timidly. At that moment, she sounded like a child, and I couldn't help but remember the time that Bella had come to visit me when she was about five. She'd asked me the same question when she realized that I was going to a friend's house for a sleepover. It'd been one of the few moments that Bella showed any real attachment to me.

"Of course. As soon as you put the dogs out."

As soon as Alice had gone, I locked eyes with her and stood up. "You want her to stay," I said, disbelief lacing my words. "Not just for a night or two but permanently."

"Of course I do," she said. Jake sucked in a breath and Paul growled, but I didn't mind them.

I'd planned on keeping my mouth shut. All I was going to do was roll my eyes and ask Bella where I'd be staying for the remainder of the weekend; according to the "damage control" plan that Mom and I had set in place, I'd stay there for two days as if I'd really planned the visit, then come home. That way, I could help Bella as much as possible and get some time for myself (though from the looks of it, that wasn't happening). But apparently, my anger overpowered my mouth.

"You're out of your mind," I said with exasperation. "I didn't think it was possible anymore but you truly are out of your everlovin' mind."

"She's my _friend_, Evie. She's like my sister and I've missed her. Of course I want her to stay."

"Of course. Because friends leave you without so much as a goodbye and stay out of touch. Or don't keep in touch at all for the better part of what, a half a year? Or even better, leave you unprotected knowing that someone out there is gunning for your blood. Or hell, put you in those damn precarious situations _to begin with_!"

Bella was shaking with anger. "He didn't…not on purpose! He loved me, Evie. You just don't understand."

I wanted to yell. I wanted to scream at Bella and shake her and get her to wake up but I was suddenly exhausted. I was tired of being angry, of trying to be rational in the face of insanity. _I just have to get through the weekend. Just two days. Two days. I can do it. Two. Days. _"If you say so, Bella. Look, can I please go put my stuff down?"

Bella shoulders sagged as she relaxed. After staring at me for a good minute, she nodded. "Yeah. Go ahead and drop it in my room," she murmured. "Second door on the left." Just as I bent down to pick up my backpack, a very large, tan hand picked it up for me. "I've got it," Paul said to me smoothly. I tried my best to keep my face blank as I looked into his eyes. They seemed to be pleading with me to not take the bag back into my own possession.

"Uh…Thank you," I murmured, before heading toward the stairs. I felt, rather than heard Paul's presence behind me as I made my way to the second floor and to Bella's room. When we got there, Paul brushed past me as I took in my surroundings and placed my bag on Bella's bed.

I hadn't realized that I'd zoned out as I memorized the layout of the bedroom until Paul's voice nearly gave me a heart attack.

"Do you mind if I stay up here with you for a bit? Sounds like they're having a moment."

"Huh?" _Your intelligent responses are _astounding_, Evie Hazel_. Before he could repeat himself, his words caught up with me and I nodded. "Oh. Of course," I said. Silence surrounded us again except this one was a tad more awkward than our silence in the car. For reasons that I didn't understand, Paul made me nervous, but not in a bad way. Far from it, in fact. And that nervousness – more importantly, what it meant - scared the hell out of me.

"Hey, Paul?" I said, trying to make what I was about to say not seem awkward. I heard the phone ring downstairs and prayed that someone answered so I could just get out what I had to say. He looked away from Bella's bed – or more specifically, the dream catcher that was on its headboard – and shifted his gaze to me. "Thanks…for…" I paused, trying not to lose whatever nerve I had that possessed me to open my mouth to begin with. "Everything."

A flurry of emotions flitted across his face and as they did, I kicked myself for having opened my mouth to begin with. Just as I was about to look down at the floor, Paul gave me a small smile. "Anytime, Evie."

I tried to ignore the fact that the way my name rolled off his tongue seemed warm and perfect. Or that I felt my skin flush yet again as I took in his smile. But all too quickly, that feeling was replaced with the feeling of déjà vu. Seconds later, to my dismay, I heard Jacob's raised voice; Bella's broke through with an anguished, "Why didn't you let me speak to him?" The feeling grew worse. "Not this shit again," I muttered, racing out of the room and down the stairs. I followed the voices, now joined by Alice's musical tone, to the kitchen.

"He's going to the Volturi; he wants to die, too," Alice said. Even before Bella spoke, I could see exactly what she was thinking. As she started to move to the living room – and I assumed the front door – my feeling of déjà vu got worse and Jacob trailed after her. "Bella! Bella, hold _on_ a second," I said, hot on Jacob's heels.

"He left you, Bella. He didn't want you anymore, remember?" Jacob said as Bella went out the door and down the front steps.

"I'm not going to let him kill himself out of guilt," she replied. Alice had zoomed ahead and already started the car, but Jake held Bella back. Because he stopped so quickly, I barely missed smacking into him; Paul had once again followed me and stopped me a mere second before I crashed.

"What about your dad?" Jake asked. He was grasping at straws now and I knew it – I think we all did.

"I'm 18. I can go – "

"You'd really be that selfish?" I snapped. As the words sprung from me, the intensity of my déjà vu faded, if only slightly. Bella's eyes met mine and her eyebrows narrowed.

"What?"

"You _heard_ me, Isabella. Would you seriously be that selfish and put Charlie through the hell of losing you – _again_ - just to run after a vampire who up and walked away from you?"

"Look, Evie…regardless of what he did, I can't let Edward do that! Besides, I'm not leaving permanently. I'd be back as soon as I knew Edward was safe."

"Why the f – GAH!" My frustration was making it harder and harder to be rational. At this point, I really didn't care if Jake was going to rip me apart – I was going to beat Bella senseless.

Just as I clenched my fist, heat flooded the small of my back and all at once, I relaxed a bit. "Bella…this is not just about you and that undeserving jackass," I hissed. "Let's not even talk about the fact that this could put you in even _more_ danger. For one second, stop acting like Renee and think about Charlie!" Alice appeared beside Bella at once, the car turned off and glared at me. The pained expression on Bella's face told me that I'd hit below the belt, but I pressed on.

"You didn't hear him when you ran off back to Phoenix, Bella. You broke him. Every day, my mother talked on the phone with him. _Every day_, she had to keep him from drinking himself into a stupor or condemning himself." I crossed my arms as my gaze bore into her face. "He could barely function."

"She's right, Bells," Jake said softly. "My dad had to practically drag him out of the house. Or rather, get me to do it." I shot him a quizzical look, but he didn't supply an answer. Instead of waiting to see if he would, I kept talking.

"And when Edward left and you sunk into that depression…Bella, do you know how many times he called my mother in tears because he couldn't stand to see you that way? So dead?"

Bella's eyes were filled to the brim with tears but she blinked, trying to stop herself from crying, I assumed. "I'll handle him when I get back."

"What if you don't?" I challenged. "What if something happens? I'm assuming that these Volturi…they're bigwigs in the world of the undead, right?" I focused on Alice, who nodded.

"They are the closest thing we have to royalty; they enforce the rules of the vampire world – the main one being to keep our existence unknown to the humans," she said hesitantly.

"And if they were to see or find out Bella was there?" I asked her, not really knowing where "there" was.

"They wouldn't hesitate to kill her."

"You see?" I practically yelled at Bella. "You can't do this, Bella. Edward is old enough to make his own decisions; you _know _that. If you can't think about it in terms of saving yourself, then _please_, for the love of all that's holy, think of Charlie, of me, of Jake – of all the people who love you."

The tears that Bella had tried to hold back fell freely from her eyes. "I _am_, Evie! But I love him. I _love_ him, even through it all, even if he doesn't love me. I have to do this. He's worth that risk to me. There's no other way!"

I closed my eyes, trying to hold on to whatever bit of patience I had left. Bella's words echoed in my mind and I knew that nothing would convince her. Unless…

_Didn't you find it odd that sometimes, I wasn't there, and then, the next second, I was there, with Grandma by my side? _

_Wouldn't it be better if I just orbed us there? That way neither of us gets wet and we get there in seconds?_

"Yes there is."


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: So_..._I know that I said the chapter wasn't that far off. As soon as I said that, that horrible thing called "writer's block" kicked in. Thankfully, the block is gone and Chapter 10 was born. Hope you love this chapter as much as I loved writing it. Shout-outs to all the awesome reviewers and people who put me/this story on their alerts. As always, R&R. Much love to you all!**

* * *

**Chapter 10**

**BELLA**

"Yes, there is."

I glared at her. Short of a miracle, there was nothing… "You can't be serious," I said to Evie as all the pieces of what she was implying clicked in my head. One second she's worried about my safety, the next minute she's putting hers on the line? "You really can't be serious, Evie. It isn't-"

"Safe?" she snapped back. "Maybe, but it's safer for me than it is for you." Realizing what Evie meant, the boys started growling. Alice, meanwhile, looked like she was about to speak but I cut her off.

"No, it's not. You've been through an exhausting day and that'll affect you." Evie huffed. "And besides, you don't know what he looks like and he's on the move. You could expose yourself and according to you and Aunt Trish, that would be _very_ bad."

"That's the first rational thing you've said all day," growled Paul. I narrowed my eyes at him and Evie sighed with exasperation.

"I wasn't kidding about the _Dog Whisperer_ thing, Paul," threatened Evie. Oddly enough, he shut up pretty quickly, but the menacing look in his eyes didn't fade.

Paul slightly pushed Evie so that she was partially facing him. "How is it better for _you_ to put yourself in danger? Neither of you should go; he's a big boy – about 100 years _too_ big, if you ask me – and he can make his own decisions."

Alice looked between Evie, Paul and I, her confusion clear as day. "Will someone please tell me what _exactly_ is going on?"

**EVIE**

Paul spoke up as he yet again placed his hand on my shoulder. "No can do, leech. That's classified information."

"Well then, un-classify it! If it involves helping my brother, I need to know everything."

I shot Alice an uncertain glance. As it was, way too many people knew already. Then again…

Alice rolled her eyes at me. "You're really worried about secrecy?" When I didn't answer, she let out an impatient sigh. "I promise you, I won't tell but I need to know! Time is of the essence here."

I quickly looked at Jake and Paul's stony faces and then at Bella. Her eyes were wide and pleading, begging me to do this. "Evie," she said. "If you tell Alice, she may be able to help, maybe give us more insight. And she won't tell."

For a moment, it seemed that the entire world stood still as I thought it over. On the one hand, I could see Alice's point; idiot though he was, Edward _was_ her brother, in a sense. And given that aside from Bella she wanted to help him the most, she might offer a different perspective, some other idea that we hadn't thought of. On the other, Bella was right; exposure would be an extremely high risk, considering that Edward was on the move.

"Well?" prodded Alice.

I shook my head. "All I can tell you –"

"Oh, for Pete's sake!" said Bella, throwing her hands up in frustration. "Evie's a witch."

_What the hell?_ "So much for protecting myself from exposure," I spat. This time, when Paul let out a growl, I welcomed it.

"I'm sorry!" Bella said. "But the fact is, we're wasting time and like I said, Alice might be able to help you – us – find an alternative."

Alice got close to me and looked me in the eyes. "Is that true? Is that why I couldn't see Bella before?"

I gave Bella an acidic look before meeting Alice's eyes again and answering. "I have no idea why you couldn't see me, but yes, I'm a witch. Not that Bella was supposed to let that one out of the bag."

"Evie, I…" My shoulders tensed and I stood a bit straighter, hoping against all hope that Bella would get the message and shut up, but there was no such luck. "Evie, it's better that she knows. At least now, everything's out in the open and we can work to get Edward back…in a way that's less likely to get you killed."

The rational part of me completely understood her, knew that she had a point. But right now, all of my rationale was being blocked out by the anger and disbelief that were flowing through me.

"I need a minute," I ground out, storming back to the house.

"_Fuckin' A!_" I shouted as soon as the door shut behind me, my anger taking full control. _Forget the two days, forget helping Bella, and forget the vampires and wolves and all of this shit. _Now more than ever, I wanted to relax as I'd originally planned. I wanted to go home, curl up under a blanket and read a book and forget that any of this – starting from the moment that Bella had been brought home from the woods. I wanted just an ounce of 'normal.'

I hustled into the living room and up the stairs, bursting into Bella's bedroom and grabbing my bag from where I'd left it. I closed my eyes and let the familiar feeling of ropes take over me – only to have it disappear a moment later. _What? It's usually not that fast. _Confused, I opened my eyes only to be overcome with dizziness. "Whoa…" I murmured. I stumbled toward the bed and fell onto it, the dizziness still wreaking havoc on me.

A moment later, I felt a flash of heat from beside me. "Are you okay?"

I shook my head at Paul's question, which helped clear some of the fog from my head. "What's wrong?" he asked me.

"You mean other than the fact that my cousin wanted to kill herself over someone who's already dead? Or that she didn't respect _my_ secret, my decision, all in an attempt to save said deadie? Or that I couldn't teleport home and now I'm dizzy as fuck? Other than all that, nothing," I snapped, holding my face in my hands.

I heard Paul suck in a breath beside me and I turned to face him slightly. When I looked at his face, I felt an uncomfortable tug on my heart and my stomach churned. _Great going, Evie. _"I'm sorry," I said quickly.

"It's alright," he murmured, his tone steely and cold.

"No." Hesitantly, I placed my hand on his huge bicep. "No, it's not. _You're_ not the person I'm mad at. I shouldn't have snapped at you, Paul."

A flurry of emotions passed over his face and I couldn't help but wish for a second that mind reading was one of my powers so that I could figure out just what he was thinking.

After a long, silent pause, Paul heaved a sigh. "Look, Evie…I get it. After everything that's gone on today, it's no surprise. And given how frustrating your cousin can be – no offense – the only thing that has surprised me is your restraint."

I shot him a questioning look when he didn't elaborate. "And that means…?" I asked, trying to convince him to keep going. Instead, he rubbed the back of his neck and looked away. "Seriously, what does that mean?"

"Given that she's your blood, I really don't think I should say anything," he said, still refusing to look at me.

"Right now, I think I'm too peeved to care. Besides, she was referred to as a Chihuahua," I said, trying to lighten the mood.

Paul chuckled. _Mission accomplished. _ "Yeah, but you're _family._ You're allowed to talk smack about family. I don't want you going all _Dog Whisperer_ on me if I say something you don't like."

I couldn't help but smile. "Are you teasing me?"

**PAUL**

I smiled back before rubbing a hand over the back of my neck. "Well…honestly, if I were in your position, I probably would've bitch slapped her," I said. Evie's eyes narrowed and I held up my hands in surrender. "Uh-uh-uh! You told me you were too peeved to care; you don't get to hold that against me."

Evie playfully glared at me. "Damn, I _did_ say that, didn't I?"

I nodded vigorously and Evie giggled. After her giggles faded, however, she grew somber.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

Evie bit her lip as she looked at me, probably trying to figure out if she should speak. Finally, after a few minutes, she sighed. "There's a huge part of me that understands her. I mean…" In that moment, I felt my heart clench as I waited for her to answer. _Oh, for Christ's sake, man. Get a __**GRIP!**_ "I've never been in love that way but…she was happy. And a part of me _wants_ her to be happy; of course I want her to be happy. But…"

I noticed that her eyes got slightly cloudy as she paused. "It's…it's unnatural."

"The magic or your cousin's new suicidal tendencies?" I asked, unsure of where this was headed.

Evie threw up her hands in frustration. "All of it!" Suddenly, her eyes widened and she looked at me guiltily. "Shit! Paul, I…I'm so sorry – I didn't mean to…"

I held up a hand to stop her. "You didn't offend me," I said, trying to not wince as I said it. "Look…if this was a normal human relationship, it'd be hard enough to deal with. But the supe part of it…vamps, wolves…it's a game changer."

"Exactly…" she said. "And…don't get me wrong, I want to help her. But he fucking _left_. Left. And not just him; according to her, they all up and left without any warning. I'm sorry, but if _that's_ not a warning sign that he's a temperamental, fair-weather bastard then hell…I don't know what is. And why does she _want_ that, anyway? I mean jeez, she's not even out of high school! She still has to go to college, get out into the real world…drink, even."

As serious as the situation was, I couldn't help but picture Bella trying to drink out of a keg and the image my mind conjured up was too funny; I tried – and failed – to hold back my grin and Evie shot me a funny look. "What?" she asked.

My grin stretched even more across my face. "I'm sorry, it's just – Bella doesn't strike me as the type."

Evie's eyebrow quirked. "Who knows? Maybe she's more like Renee than any of us gives her credit for. Point is she should have a chance at _normal_. Or at least some semblance of it."

"Normal is overrated," I said, earning myself a stern glare – which though intimidating, was doing something to me that I did _not_ want. "Seriously though, Evie. Part of normal is making your own path, your own mistakes. Even though it involves some supe elements, her life _is_ normal. This is her mistake to make."

"A mistake she needs _my_ help with, Paul. And technically, I already agreed to help her, so if you think about it, that isn't even the issue!" she said, her voice rising several octaves.

"So…" I said, edging a tiny bit closer to her. "If that isn't the issue…what is?"

Evie huffed and something dark flashed across her features. "It's going to sound stupid," she said.

"No, it won't, Evie." She nodded and I shook my head. "No…it won't. What you feel is what you feel, and nothing about _that_ is stupid. What is it?"

Evie bit her lip. "It's just that…one second, she's all: 'No, it's too dangerous, don't you dare,' and she completely understands how important it is to keep her mouth shut and then the next second, just because she's got a possible insurance policy in the form of Alice, all of that goes to hell. Suddenly, she can spill all the secrets and put everybody and their grandmother at risk for her precious deadie. Secrets that aren't even fucking _hers_." She huffed. "I mean…_shit!_"

"She disrespected you," I murmured. Evie nodded.

"Yes! Exactly!"

I sighed, debating whether or not I should say what was on my mind but before I could stop myself, the words came tumbling out. "And don't get me wrong…she completely crossed a line. But maybe she has a point."

I couldn't figure out whether her expression or my own distaste at having to admit that the pixie leech might be an asset was what made me flinch. When I could practically feel the waves of anger flowing off of Evie, I continued. "Look…I'm not saying we have to be happy about it, but if Alice can get a more exact idea of where he is, of where he might be…it might be easier for you to get to him. The sooner you get to him, the sooner this is done."

Evie sighed. "But then again, is it really? I mean, we still have that bitch that's gunning for Bella…" I could see a flicker of another emotion on her face.

"You let _us_ worry about that. If we can get your cousin to finally put her stupidity aside by saving her leech, we might have more of a chance to keep her safe. And that's what you want, isn't it?"

Evie scowled at me. "Damn you for playing that card," she growled. Instead of answering me, she stood and took a deep breath, sliding past me and going for the bedroom door. "Well…might as well go and strategize; not like I can go anywhere." The worry in her voice doesn't escape my notice and I place my hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sure it's just exhaustion, Evie. Give yourself some time."

Evie turned to me, a slight pink tint in her cheeks. "For Bella's sake, I hope you're right," she said.

**EVIE**

I stepped out of Bella's room and made my way down the stairs. As much as I hated to admit it to myself, Paul's thudding steps behind me reassured me more than they should as I went to face my cousin and her _friend_.

When I arrived in the living room, Bella, Jake and Alice snapped off the couch and glanced at me warily.

"Evie," Alice said. "Do you still want to help us?"

My eyes flickered from her to Jacob and to Bella, who looked sad, scared and chastised. "Yes. But…you're going to have to give me some time."

Alice's eyes widened. "We don't _have_ time; he's on his way to Volterra and he'll do _anything_ to die because he thinks Bella is dead!"

"Don't you think I _know_ that?" I snapped. "If it were up to me, it would be fast and easy but it doesn't work like that!"

"If it were up to you, he would die!"

Paul shoved me behind him. "No, you're confusing her with me!" he roared. "You want her to help you, you'll give her the time she needs so that she can recoup her energy. Otherwise…" He paused to glare at Bella. "Screw him and _all_ of you."

Bella pushed past Paul and stood in front of me. "Evie, I know you're mad at me but you said you'd help. _Please_. If you won't…"

"It's in your best interest to stop talking," I growled. "I said I'd help you and I will but like Paul said, I need to recoup my energy – popping from coast to coast is exhausting, let alone country to country."

Realization seemed to dawn on Bella and Alice and the former of the two instantly looked guilty as she nodded. "Right. Alice…couldn't you try and get a more exact location while we wait for Evie to 'juice up' a bit?"

Alice shook her head mournfully. "Because he's traveling so fast, everything's a blur." She paused for a moment. "Evie…what can you tell me about your powers?"

My eyebrow shot up to my hairline. "Not that much, really." I relayed as much as I could (including my current predicament) and as I did, Alice's face scrunched in concentration. When I finished, she relaxed and gave me a small smile.

"I think I know someone who can help you."

Half an hour later, Paul and I climbed out of Alice's car and it took everything I had to not kiss the pavement.

"Alice, the next time you feel the need for speed like that, do me a favor and let me take you down to Daytona," I said.

Paul, who hadn't left my side and had a firm grip on me since the moment we tore out of Charlie's, stiffened. "There won't _be_ a next time."

Alice, who'd been leading us to a storefront, stopped abruptly and turned to face us. "I'm sorry I scared you," she said to me before glaring at Paul. "But time is of the essence."

"I'd rather get somewhere late and alive than on time and dead," he growled back.

I couldn't help but chuckle – he had a point, after all. Instead of replying, Alice turned back around and stormed into an incense-filled shop with Paul and I at her heels.

At first, all I could see were rows of shelves. Upon closer inspection, I realized that they were all different in terms of content– some had books, others had herbs, incense, candles and all sorts of trinkets. And all of the items had waves of magic rolling off of them. "What _is_ all this?"

"If you truly need an answer to that, chances are this isn't where you should be," said a cool voice from behind us. I jumped about a mile in the air before turning around to face the owner of the voice.

Her dark brown eyes were narrowed at the three of us and a scowl was etched onto her tan face. A strip of dark black hair fell in front of her right eye and she briefly uncrossed her arms to shove it behind her ear.

"So much for customer service," muttered Paul darkly, causing Alice to roll her eyes at him before walking toward the counter that the woman was behind.

"Hello, Nayeli," she said hesitantly.

"Ms. Cullen," Nayeli replied stiffly. "To what do I owe the _pleasure_?"

Alice glanced at us, fear written all over her face. "I…well…_we_ need your help."

Nayeli shot her a look that I couldn't read. "And what makes you think I can help you? Or will, for that matter?"

"Nayeli, please…your grandmother said that we could count on her if we needed her," Alice said gently, trying to not agitate her.

Clearly, that wasn't working; Nayeli uncrossed her arms and slammed a fist on the counter. "That was my grandmother, not me; her debt to you is none of my concern. I don't work with the likes of _you_." She shifted her gaze from Alice to Paul and I. "You'd be wise to apply the same principle." With an angry huff, she turned and headed toward the back of the store.

"Wait!" I called. "If you won't help her, help me." Nayeli stopped but she didn't turn around so I pressed on. "I just need some information – something that will help me stop my cousin from going on a suicide mission to save Alice's brother. Please, Nayeli. I need to keep her safe."

I heard Nayeli take a deep breath before she turned to face us again. "Why?"

I balked. _What the hell? _"Because she's too young for this! Because she shouldn't have to put herself in this kind of danger!"

"Ah, but she has already – willingly, it would seem. But you misunderstand me. Why do _you_ have to do it? Why not her," she said, sauntering back as she glared at Alice. "Or him?" Her gaze flickered to Paul.

"Because…" I paused, choosing my words carefully. "Because as close as they are to her, they really aren't. She's one of my own. She's my family. My blood. And ridiculous or not, I love her unconditionally."

Without a word, Nayeli stepped out from behind the counter. Placing her hand on my shoulder, she locked eyes with me. "What do you need?"

"We need to get her powers back so she can get herself to Edward," supplied Alice.

Nayeli's eyes widened in shock and her eyes snapped to Alice. "You know very well that I can't restore a witch's powers; if the spirits have taken them away, only they can restore them."

My own eyes got as big as saucers as I thought over my actions and what my mother had said. "Wait. That can happen? Oh, come on! After _one_ day? Hell, not even a full day!" My mind was on overload. _What the hell am I supposed to do now? _

Nayeli's face was absolutely incredulous. "Of course that can happen…and what do you mean 'after one day'?"

I sighed and ran my hands over my face before glancing at Alice, who nodded. "You can trust her. And if she's going to help us, she needs to know everything."

I was really tired of hearing that.

After recounting the _entire_ story yet again, Nayeli had a look of shock and irritation on her face.

"So…is there anything we can do to help get her powers stable again?" asked Alice.

Nayeli snorted. "Other than 12 hours of sleep and no stress? No." She made her way over to one of the shelves – the one with the candles – and began re-arranging them.

"Nayeli, _please_, there must be something!" Alice squawked. "A spell or – "

"Listen to me, _vampira_," she hissed, whirling around. "From what I've been told, her powers aren't gone, just depleted. And there's no spell to fix depletion; the only way to fix that is the natural way – rest. Even if there _was_ a way, I wouldn't do it."

A strangled noise escaped my throat in protest, causing Nayeli to gaze at me. "Not because I don't understand you," she placated. "But because it's too much for you; you've only just gotten your gift. To do that kind of magic, you need to develop it and control it. If you do it now, the consequences would be disastrous, and not just to you."

I huffed in irritation. "I know that I can't expose my gift – "

Nayeli huffed. "Exposure is the least of your problems. Magic, especially _new_ magic, has its limits; if you push, it _will_ push back." _What?_ My confusion must have shown on my face because Nayeli continued. "If you push your magic too far, you could end up hurting and/or killing yourself."

Paul, who had managed to stay behind me and quiet throughout all of this, let out a growl so loud that it shook me to my core. "That _can't_ happen."

"Exactly my point, shifter."

Paul looked dumbstruck. "What did you just call me?"

"Shifter. Shapeshifter." Rolling her eyes at his expression, she sighed. "Please. You think I don't know what you are? If the tattoo wasn't enough, the magic rolling off you is. Which is why this 'alliance' is more than a little surprising."

"Not just to you," he said.

A tiny smirk graced her face before it fell again. "Look…" she said to me.

"Evie," I supplied.

"Look, Evie. I know you want to help your cousin. But the best thing you can do is find another way to show…Edward…that she is indeed alive and well."

Alice shook her head. "He won't believe that! He'll think it's a trick. It's either this or Bella goes to Volterra."

Nayeli growled at her. "She is an innocent; if you let her go, you'll be signing her death warrant."

"Which is why we need Evie's help!"

Paul was shaking now. "Why? So _she_ can die instead of Bella? Hell no!"

I backed up and stood beside him. "I'm not going to die, Paul. I'll be in and out in no time."

But my words had no effect. "Haven't you been _listening_, Evie? You said yourself that popping from state to state was exhausting, that going from country to country would be worse. And Nayeli said that if you push too hard, you could end up killing yourself. And if you_ do_ make it there, what's to say that the Vol-whatever they are won't kill you to protect themselves?" His voice rose, and his shaking got worse and worse until I was sure that he was going to go into an epileptic fit.

"Evie…" said Alice. "Back away from him."

"Alice, I'm – "

Another growl ripped out of Paul's throat. "Shut up, leech! Your mouth is what got us in this mess!"

"Paul, calm – "

"_Tranquillitas totalis_," snapped Nayeli, locking eyes with Paul.

In an instant, the shaking stopped and Paul sagged a bit. "What did you do?" I asked Nayeli, half horrified and half awed.

She shrugged. "A simple calming spell – can't have him going puppy in my shop." I felt my mouth drop open; judging from Paul's immediate reaction, there was nothing _simple_ about it.

"It's not permanent, is it? I need to _go puppy_ to protect the Rez," he spat.

Nayeli chuckled. "Of course it's not; if I can't _restore_ magic, what makes you think I can take it away?" She went back to rearranging the candles. "You should go back to normal as soon as you've calmed down on your own."

My eyebrow arched in confusion. "But he _is_ calm, isn't he?"

"Not on his own; the spell's energy – _my_ energy – is overpowering his rage, but only by a bit. Once his rage has dissipated, so will the spell."

"Are you sure?"

Nayeli scowled, and I could tell she was biting back a smart remark. "Yes, I'm sure. It only required a small amount of magic."

"But that doesn't have anything to do with how long the spell will last!"

"It has everything to do with that, Evie. This particular spell is a balance spell, which serves to maintain the balance in nature, people, in the world. It only required a small amount of magic - just enough to overpower Paul's rage. Once Paul can regain his natural balance on his own, my magic won't need to be there – if anything it'd be tipping the balance, which defeats its purpose - so it'll easily disappear. Plus, I didn't make it permanent."

Just then, Alice gasped and she blinked. "Evie, we have to go. He's getting closer to Volterra."

I nodded at her before turning my attention back to Nayeli. "Thank you for your help."

"I only wish it could be more," she said somberly. Paul, Alice and I turned and went to leave the shop, only to be stopped a second later. "Oh, and Ms. Cullen?"

Alice turned. "If Evie or her cousin die, I won't hesitate to end you."

Alice gunned it back to Forks and I held onto Paul and the safety bars in the car, barely managing to keep still until we got into Charlie's driveway.

I was sorely tempted to make another Daytona comment, but the gravity of the situation kept me silent. _Would Edward believe us if we made a video of Bella? He probably wouldn't. What if somehow we could get a message to him? He wouldn't believe it. I could pop myself there, if I sleep well beforehand. But what if it doesn't work and I end up in the sea? Or dead? _

My mind was so distracted that I barely noticed Bella barreling out of the house with Jacob hot on her heels.

"Well? How'd it go?" she asked.

As much as I tried to force myself to answer, to be happy that she was asking, I couldn't. I knew that my cousin was only asking because my answer was key to Edward's survival. Lucky for me, Paul spoke up.

"Not going to happen."

Or not.

Bella blanched. "What? Why?" Her eyes darted between the three of us. "Did you change your mind?"

I shook my head. "No, I didn't. And I never said that or anything close to it, Paul." I took a breath. "Don't worry, Bella. I just need some sleep and then I'll be back at full strength so we can do it."

Paul turned white with disbelief. "You can't be serious!" he said incredulously. _Well, shit, apparently the spell wore off in the car_, I thought.

"After everything that Nayeli said, you can't be serious. Evie…you could _die_!" he continued. _Why the hell is he looking at me like that?_ I wondered. He had a look of crushing sadness on his face. _And why does my heart feel so tight?_

"Evie…you can't die," he said softly. "Not like _that_. Not for him."

I sighed, my frustration and a peculiar anxiety building within me. "Don't you _see_? I'm not doing this for him. I'm doing it for her!" I said, nodding to Bella.

"Because she's being selfish about this whole thing!"

I threw my hands up in frustration. "That's _not_ the point, Paul. And I _won't_ die. Especially because I have something else in mind."


	11. Chapter 11

**As always, I don't own Twilight. Evie and all other OC's, as well as this plot are my exclusive property and may not be used without my consent. Thank you.**

* * *

**CHAPTER 11**

**EVIE**

The silence after my 'declaration' was thick and deafening. Finally, Alice spoke. "And what would that be?"

Instead of answering, I made my way into the house. "Bella, where's your computer?" I called.

A second later, I felt her behind me. "It's upstairs; want me to grab it?" I nodded and she galloped up the stairs, returning after what seemed like mere seconds with a laptop under her arm. Knowing how Renee-esque my cousin was, I hurried over and took it from her, pulling up Google as I sat down on the couch.

"What are you looking for?" she asked me, reminding me way too much of Alice at the moment.

"You'll know…" I mashed in several different searches, clicking on the webpages that seemed most relevant and skimming them. "When I find it." _Whoops…I'm starting to sound like Paul or Jacob_, I thought, realizing that the last bit had been growled out.

The atmosphere around me was tense as Alice, Jacob and Paul joined Bella and I and I tried my hardest to ignore it but Jacob's eyes boring into me finally made snap. "Yes, Jacob?"

My eyes flickered upwards to meet his face for a brief second before going back to my search.

"Are you a mind reader, too?" he asked. Even though he was smirking, Jacob's eyes held a deadly seriousness that would've scared me if I wasn't so preoccupied. Instead, I snorted.

"No, but it doesn't take a mind reader to realize you want something when your eyes are trained on me like a laser. So, again…Yes, Jacob?"

I heard springs shift and felt the couch dip as Jacob sat next to me. "That other witch…Nayeli…she seems to think that this would be risky."

_Damn Paul. _"So you've been updated, I see?" I said dryly.

"Completely. That calming thing she did was some of the most amazing stuff I've seen in a while…next to you poofing in, of course."

This immediately caught my attention. "Seen? What the – how could you _see_ it?"

"Werewolf thing," he said quickly. "But anyway…if this other witch says it's too risky…"

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Again, as I've been _saying_, it's not as risky as Bella going there."

Paul, who was standing in front of us, looked about ready to explode. "It's too big a risk for either of you if it involves losing your lives. What part of that is so fucking difficult to understand?"

I glared at Paul but chose to ignore his words and his tone. "And besides…if my hunch is right, I think I can decrease that risk."

"And if you're wrong – "

Something inside me snapped then. "Then we'll fucking fix it, but we won't know until I try!" I said, rising from the couch. My chest was aching but I pushed past the pain. "But I have to at least give it a shot because if I don't, I'm going to have to live with the knowledge that my cousin got herself killed and I didn't do any-_fucking_-thing about it even though I had a chance!"

"Now who's being selfish and suicidal? What about _your_ mother and her feelings?" he roared.

I tried to act like his words had no effect on me but they hit me like a wrecking ball. This entire time, I'd been preaching to Bella but who was going to be there for my mother if something – _no._ I couldn't afford to think like that.

"That _won't_ happen, Paul. And if it – by some very slim, awful chance – does, my mother will understand that it happened because I was protecting one of our own. An innocent." I shot Jacob a look, praying he'd back me up before locking eyes with Paul again. "You know I have to…you know why." I took a breath. "And even if you don't…I don't have to explain myself to you." _Ouch._

Paul's eyes flashed and a flurry of emotions flew across his face but before he could say anything, Jacob interrupted. "So, what is this hunch of yours?"

I tore my eyes away from Paul and focused on Jacob and Alice, who looked completely intrigued. "Well…instead of taking myself to Edward, I figured I could bring him to us."

"What?" said Jacob, while Alice asked, "How?"

I held up a hand. "I'm going to try to do a spell." When Alice looked like she was about to say something, I pressed on. "When we were in the shop, Nayeli got me thinking…she said that the spell's energy was _her_ energy, right?" Alice nodded. "And she also said that the only way to stabilize my powers was for me to regain my energy. So, all I have to do is use my energy to bring _him_ to _us_."

Alice bit down on her lower lip. "What makes you so sure you can do it?"

"I'd be lying if I said I was sure at all," I replied. "But unless I try, I never _will be_." I sat back down and scanned a few more pages. "Besides, something tells me that staying here and doing the spell would be easier."

Jacob snorted. "How do you figure?"

"Because as everyone's been so quick to point out, popping from here to another country is going to be exhausting. And I'm going to have to pop there and back, which means that I'll be using a lot more energy than if I just have to pull him here."

"And when were you planning on doing this? Now?" growled Paul. _Why does it hurt knowing that growl's meant for me?_

I shook my head. "I'm not _that_ stupid. I'm too drained."

"And where? You can't do this just anywhere…the risk of exposure is…" Bella trailed off when I looked her way, for once having the good sense to shut up.

"I know I can't do this just any time, any place," I said somberly. Taking a breath, I tried to clear my mind, to figure out in a moment the key part of the plan that had somehow slipped past me before. I glanced at Jacob. "Charlie's friend…the one you went to the hospital for."

"Harry Clearwater," he supplied. I nodded.

"When is his funeral?"

Just as Bella was about to answer, Jacob cut in, seeming to catch on to why I was really asking. "Tomorrow morning; about 10 or so. The service should last about an hour or so, after which we'll have the burial and probably head over to either the Clearwater's or to Sam and Emily's."

I nodded as I tried to figure how much time that would be. "Not a big window, but I'm hoping it'll be enough. I'll call when it's done," I said to Bella. "If I haven't called by the time you and Charlie start heading back, call me."

"You're going to do it _here_?" my cousin asked incredulously.

My eyes rolled before I could stop them from doing so. "No, Bella; I'm going to go into the center of town and do it right there for everybody and their grandma to see. As a matter of fact-"

"Evie!" Jacob exclaimed sharply, fixing me with a look that would've scared anybody who wasn't as exhausted or aggravated as I was.

Surprisingly, Paul walked over to where I was and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Relax, Ev," he muttered gruffly. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath and waited a few seconds before speaking again. "To answer your question yes, I'm going to do it here. It's a place he knows so he won't freak out if it works. And it's safe from prying eyes."

Alice bit down on her lip even more. "That still doesn't guarantee your safety."

I shook my head but before I could say anything, Jake spoke up. "The leech is right. We're all going to be at the funeral…it's not safe for you to do this alone."

"I'll stay…keep an eye on her," Paul said, the gruffness still in his voice.

I shook my head again. "Absolutely not. Mr. Clearwater was your friend; I'm not going to let you _not_ pay your respects just because of me." Paul growled and I couldn't help but shake slightly. "Paul…I'll be safe, alright?" I focused on Alice for a moment before I finished my thought. "I won't be alone."

"Of course you won't," said Bella. "I'm staying."

"No you're not," I said, causing her to take a shaky breath, which was my only indicator that she was hurt. "Charlie _needs_ you, Bella. He needs his family, the person who means more than life to him. That's you."

Alice wrapped a comforting arm around Bella. "She's right, Bella. Charlie just lost his best friend and he needs your support. Don't worry…I'll stay."

Bella sniffled. "You'll keep her safe?"

"With my life."

* * *

Shortly after that debate had been settled, I managed to find a few more resources and bookmarked them, jotting down a few essential notes before I shut down the computer.

"Just in time," said Jake. "Dad just texted to let me know that Charlie's on the way back," he said. He cocked his head at Paul. "We should head out."

"Right," he grunted. "Bye, Bella…lee-Alice." Paul paused, glancing in my direction. His eyes flickered over all of me before he spoke. "Evie."

"Bye," I murmured softly.

"Will I see you before the funeral, Jake?" asked Bella.

Jake shook his head. "I know that Billy will have me helping to set up. I'll try and catch you before the service starts but I can't make any promises."

Bella nodded in understanding and Jake gave her a hug before focusing on me. "Evie, it was good to meet you. And…thank you."

"No problem," I said softly. "And…I'm sorry for your loss." _And the sour start._

"Thanks," he said, before he and Paul made their way out of the house. I couldn't help but watch the latter of the two, and as I did, my earlier words came back to haunt me full force. _What the heck is _up_ with me? _"Shit," I hissed under my breath.

"What's wrong?" Bella asked.

Instead of answering, I bolted from the living room into the front yard. "Paul!"

Paul had just closed the door to his truck. His head snapped up for a moment but all too quickly he started the ignition and began fumbling with his seatbelt. I picked up my pace and just managed to reach the truck, praying that he wouldn't start moving – I doubt my legs would've let me even try to keep up. "Paul, wait!"

He glared up at me, his eyes narrowed and blazing with unbridled anger. "_What?_"

The ferocity of his voice almost made me lose my nerve. "I…Paul, I'm sorry." His lips pressed into a hard, thin line, and I continued. "I'm sorry that I said what I said to you. You were just looking out for me and I was so caught up in my anger that I didn't, couldn't understand that. You've been a real ally today and…" I sighed. "Bottom line, I apologize."

His eyes, still gleaming with anger (though it _was _slightly subdued), roamed over my face. After a beat of silence, he spoke.

"It's okay," he said. "You got caught up in the moment."

My eyebrow shot up and I could tell that Paul was trying to fight a smirk. "Evie…nobody understands that more than me. It's alright…really."

Inwardly, I breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks, Paul. Good night. And like I told Jake…I'm sorry for your loss."

"Thanks," he said softly. I stood silently for a moment before turning to walk back to the house. "Hey Evie!" I turned and kept walking backwards, my eyes trained on him as I walked. "Good luck!" he called, before peeling away from the house.

* * *

When Charlie came home, he wrapped me in a warm hug, saying that I must've had my mother's sixth sense about knowing when family was needed most. He really didn't know how right he was.

About that time, Alice came back to the house and the three of us managed to whip up a quick dinner for Charlie who, although surprised at Alice's presence, was grateful that Bella was "somewhat back to the Bella that he used to know."

After that, the rest of the night passed in a blur and right after Charlie said his "good nights," I decided to call it a night too.

"I'm going to head on upstairs," I said to Alice and Bella. "Tomorrow's going to be a long day and I'm going to need all the energy I can get."

Bella looked up from a conversation that she was having with Alice. "You sure you don't want to stay down here with us? At least for a bit?"

I shook my head. "No. Besides, you two should catch up. Night, girls," I muttered before making my way upstairs.

Once I was in Bella's room, I grabbed my toiletries and some PJ's. Just as I was about to head to the bathroom to do my 'evening clean up,' two raps sounded on the door and it opened, revealing a very nervous-looking Bella. "Evie? Are you okay?"

I shrugged. "I really think I should be asking _you_ that. But yes, I'm fine."

"Oh." She glanced around the room, radiating uncertainty.

"Just spit it out," I said, trying – and ultimately failing – to keep my voice neutral. Bella stared down at her toes, obviously trying to figure out what to say. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, she cleared her throat.

"I…Look, Evie, I'm sorry, okay? I know that I should've left the choice to tell Alice up to you." Instead of replying, I nodded at her. "You just…You don't understand…"

It took every fiber of self-control that I had to not slap her. Instead, I facepalmed. "Just stop, Bella. Seriously."

"But – "

"If I didn't understand, I wouldn't be _doing this_!" I hissed, trying my best to keep my control.

Placing a free hand on her shoulder, I made her lock eyes with me. "Listen to me, Bella. All of this – helping you, going to see that other witch, trying to summon Edward – all of it is because I understand; I understand that this isn't you – that you deserve to be happy, the way you were before he left. I understand that you have people who love you – Jake, Charlie and myself included – who don't deserve the pain of watching you wither away because you can't move on. And somehow, as fucked up as it is, I understand that you love Edward. So yes…I do understand. And so long as you understand that this is _my magic_ and the choices are _mine_ to make, I'm more than happy to help you."

And then, just because I couldn't stand all the seriousness that had swirled around us all day, choked us like a thick, poisonous gas, I pulled her in for a tight, fierce hug. "Now go on back downstairs and have an overnight with Ms. Pixie. I need to change and get my sleep."

She clung a little tighter before letting go. "Hey Ev?"

"Hmm?"

"Thank you."

I shook my head. "Don't thank me till this is over."

* * *

Morning came far too quickly and before I knew it, I was standing in the living room hugging Charlie – who looked like he'd been run over by an 18-wheeler – and Bella.

"You sure you'll be okay here on your own? If you want, you can come with us; I know it's not the best way to spend a day but…"

"I'll be just fine, Uncle Charlie. Besides, I won't be on my own; Alice and I will have no problem finding something to do," I said, patting him on the arm once I'd let him go.

Deep in my heart, I knew that he didn't believe me, that he wanted me to go with them but that was the beautiful (and damning) thing about Charlie – he wasn't a pusher. Instead, he smiled sadly at me before heading out to his cruiser, leaving Bella and I alone; Alice had decided to make herself scarce by going into the kitchen and making breakfast, which Bella and Charlie had enjoyed before I made my way downstairs.

"You going to be okay?" I asked Bella.

She nodded. "Yeah. I have to be for Charlie. And the pack. Harry was – he was a great guy."

I nodded and gave her a hug. "Tell them I say hello, please." I had to bite myself so that I wouldn't add "especially Paul," but it felt almost criminal to _not_ add it. _Jesus, Hazel. You just met the boy yesterday!_

"I will," she said. I heard her take a deep breath. "Evie, please be careful."

"Don't worry, Bells. I'll be just fine. You'll see."

With a final nod, Bella trailed after Charlie, turning around once more to wave at me. As much as she tried to smile, it didn't reach her eyes.

_If I'm so sure this will work_, I thought as I waved back to her. _Why does my stomach feel like it's dropped to the center of the earth?_

Pushing aside my negative thoughts, I closed the door and headed to the kitchen. Alice had set aside a full plate for me and beside the plate was a tall glass of orange juice and a huge mug of coffee.

"Wow, Alice…this looks amazing!" I said. _If I could persuade her to become my personal chef I might – just _might_ – be able to look past the vampire thing._

Alice gave me a surprised yet pleased smile. "I'm a bit of a Food Channel addict. Edward was actually the one that got me into it."

For a second, I was overcome by a wave of bitterness at the mention of the deadie that was the root of Bella's suicidal issues but I pushed it aside, choosing instead to take a bite of the food.

"_Mmm! _Damn, Alice!" I exclaimed, causing her eyes to widen in alarm. "Bobby Flay and Paula Deen would be proud."

She let out an unneeded breath and the rest of the meal passed in relative silence. When I finished, I washed my plate and probably took a bit longer than necessary; although I wouldn't admit it to anyone, a part of me was scared. Scared of what would happen if I failed, and at the same time, terrified of what would become of Bella if I succeeded. Would it strengthen her, as we all prayed it would or would she just get weaker?

"Evie…" I turned away from the sink to face Alice. "Do you think we should get started?"

As much as I didn't want to, I realized that I didn't know how long this would take and if I was to keep my promise to my mom about keeping Charlie in the dark, I had to use every minute that he wasn't around.

"Let's get this party started," I said with a nod.

* * *

Alice moved a few pieces of furniture in the living room out of the way (if Edward's landing wasn't pretty, I didn't want to explain and be responsible for replacing broken furniture) while I made sure that all the curtains were closed.

"Are we all set?" asked Alice when the last blind had been drawn. "Do you need anything?"

I thought back to what I'd read last night. Most of my resources had suggested that I use incense or candles. _Fuck…I knew I forgot to ask Bella about __**something**_. Oh well; I wasn't going to waste any more time.

"I think we're good," I said to her. "Just make sure you stay close and if you hear anything – or anybody that isn't Edward- coming, let me know."

Alice nodded. Then, she paused. "I thought this might help," she said, handing me her cell phone. On its bright screen was a picture of who I could only assume was Bella's "Prince Charming," in all his pale, bronze eyed and haired glory.

There was something oddly regal about him and to a certain extent, I could understand why Bella – or anybody, really – would find him attractive. I looked at the screen for a few more minutes and when I was sure that I'd committed Edward's face to memory as much as I could, I handed the phone back to Alice. Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and let the spell that I'd hastily come up with upon waking up spill from my lips.

_Hear my words, hear my cry_

_Forces unseen across the skies._

_Be he far or be he near_

_Bring the vampire Edward here!_

I felt slight tug in the center of my being but other than that, nothing. For a moment, I felt panic well up within me. _No_, I thought. _This __has_ _to work. I __will __make it work. _Forcing myself to take another breath, I focused on Edward's face in my mind and I repeated the spell.

Another tug tore through me, sharper than the last, and I took that as my cue to keep repeating the spell. As I did so, a light wind began to blow around the room. My eyes snapped open, unable to believe what was happening.

"Don't lose focus!" urged Alice and I nodded. "Hear my words, hear my cry! Forces unseen across the skies! Be he far or be he near, bring the vampire Edward here!" I said, pouring as much power as I could behind the words.

The wind in the room picked up and I doubled over, the latest tug nearly bringing me to my knees. Alice stepped forward to try and catch me but I shook my head. She hesitated but finally stilled as I stood, trying to ignore the pain that the action caused.

"Hear my _**words! **_Hear my _**cry!**_" As I started the chant again, a searing pain ripped through my chest and I struggled to hold back a whimper of pain. "Forces unseen across the _**skies!**_"

Alice's eyes widened. "Evie! Stop! It's too much…It's too much, Evie, _stop!_" She tried to step forward but the wind knocked her back, hurling her into the couch.

A bright blue light began to glow throughout the room just as I felt something wet slide from my nose down the space above my mouth. "Be he _**far **_or be he _**near**_, bring the vampire Edward _**here!**_"

The wind reached a fever pitch and the light got so bright that I had to fight to keep my eyes open but I was extremely grateful that I did because right as I was about to start the chant again, I felt a giant shift and _there he was_.

There, bathed in the bright blue light and looking as confused as ever, stood Edward Cullen.

"Welcome home, Edward," I whispered. "She's alive." And then, all I saw was black.

* * *

**PAUL**

As much as I tried to focus on the words that were being spoken at the cemetery as Harry was being lowered into the ground, I couldn't help but let my mind wander to Evie. I hadn't gotten a chance to patrol Bella's house last night – Sam had given the job to Jared because Jacob and I had nearly come to blows when trying to decide who would do it – so I hadn't been able to see her, to reassure my wolf that she was okay before I went to the funeral.

_Oh well; all things considered, I guess I should be grateful that Sam allowed a patrol at all_. Under the treaty, none of us could patrol Forks if any of the Cullens were back, and Sam had almost held to that until Jacob had the good sense to remind him that there was an imprint was involved (I was too busy trying to keep my control so I wouldn't phase in Sam's living room after he'd said that nobody would be patrolling at Bella's).

Just as a cell phone buzzed on my right, a white-hot pain ripped into my heart and traveled through my chest, and I struggled to breathe. Sam shot me a questioning glance from my left and I tried to school my features so that nobody would realize that something was wrong, but from Sam's increasingly narrowed eyebrows, I could tell it wasn't working.

_Something's wrong_, I thought. _Evie's in trouble._

Another rush of pain hit me, this one so hard that I could swear my knees were going to give way and leave me eating grass. Much to my own chagrin, I grabbed onto Jacob who was standing beside me to keep from doing so and he shot me a worried glance. Before I could say anything, though, the minister finished speaking and the rest of Harry's friends and loved ones began to rush forward to pay their condolences to Sue, Leah and Seth.

Sam and the others broke away and charged toward me. Meanwhile, Jake was holding me up and speaking urgently to Bella.

"Paul, what's wrong?" Sam demanded.

My face twisted into a grimace. "I don't know, ask them!" I hissed.

All eyes locked on Bella. "Alice just texted me – the spell is done but Evie…" She paused and I'm sure that if it wasn't for the pain, I would've gone over and shaken her. Jake must've sensed my rage because he spoke up.

"What's wrong with Evie, Bella?" asked Jake, putting an arm around her.

Bella shook and her eyes filled with tears. "Alice said that she started bleeding during the spell and that when she summoned Edward, she passed out."

Those words were all it took; before anyone could stop me I was racing for the cover of the forest, my body overcome with shakes. In a moment, a flash of heat ran down my spine and I ripped out of my suit as I took my wolf form.

* * *

Not soon enough for my liking, I was thundering into Forks. The pain that I'd felt at the funeral had lessened significantly and I didn't know whether to be grateful or scared out of my wits.

_Don't worry, Paul. Evie is going to be fine._ Jake's thoughts invaded my own so quickly that I almost lost my footing but thankfully, I recovered just in time.

_What in the hell are you doing?_ I thought to him. _You're supposed to be at the funeral!_

_Bella wanted to check on Evie, too, _he thought back. At the mention of the leech lover, I growled.

_Don't start, Paul_, Jake warned. _Evie's her cousin; she's worried, too._

Another snarl ripped from my throat. _That's bullshit and you __**know **__it, Jake._

Mentally, Jake sighed. _Bullshit or not, we're getting close. Don't say or do anything stupid, Paul._

_Whatever._

Minutes later, I padded into the woods behind the Swan house and I let out a growl as Alice and the other leech's scents hit my nose. I shook my head, trying to rid myself of the disgusting smell of cotton candy and bleach, only to jump out of my skin when I felt something nudge my left flank.

I spun around and nearly snapped when I realized that Bella was the one that had touched me; as much as Jake had said to not do something stupid, I couldn't help but feel a wave of fresh rage overcome me.

"Jake'll be here in a minute; he grabbed you a spare set of clothes on the way home," she said, her voice broken.

Giving her a sharp nod I turned away from her, only turning back when Jake broke through the trees with some cut-offs and a black wife beater in his hands. "Go on, Paul," he said. "We'll wait for you."

I nodded and darted off for some cover, shifting quickly back into my human form and changing into the clothes. Without any warning, I darted off toward the house with Jacob and Bella at my heels. Before I could start banging on the door, it swung open and Alice ushered me inside.

"Where is she?" I hissed, barely able to register my surroundings.

"Follow me," said Alice, leading us into the living room. Lying on the couch was Evie, looking just as pale as the leeches. Behind me, Jacob gasped. "Damn!" he exclaimed. At the same time, Bella sucked in a breath and ran into the room. Instead of heading for Evie, however, she launched herself at the very confused looking male leech – Edward, judging by her lovesick exclamation.

Hearing his name escape her lips made my body break out in shakes. I raced toward the couch and dropped to my knees beside Evie, running a finger across her cheek. "What the hell happened?" I yelled. Alice, who was standing on the left side of the couch behind me, flinched. "You were supposed to keep her safe!"

"I tried! She wouldn't break the spell and I couldn't get to her!"

"Couldn't get to her? _Couldn't get to her? _Where the hell were you, Antarctica?" Fear wrapped around my heart; even though I could hear her heartbeat and her shallow breaths, my wolf was going into overdrive.

"Paul, calm down," said Bella, who was currently wrapped around Edward. "I'm sure Alice…"

"Calm _down_? Are you fucking _kidding_ me? If it wasn't for you she wouldn't be in this mess!" I snarled. A whimper escaped Bella's lips and her eyes filled with tears.

"Paul, don't!" said Jake. His words made me tear my eyes away from Bella and for the first time I registered that his eyes were trained on the leech and Bella, his body wracked with tremors.

"And why the hell not, Black? Am I wrong? Was I wrong yesterday when I said this was a bad idea? Am I the only one who thinks that Evie being passed out on the couch is _not_ a good thing?"

"Of course not!" Bella said.

"She's going to be alright, Paul…her heartbeat is strong," said Alice, trying to remain calm.

I rounded on her. "And that's the only reason why I haven't followed through on Nayeli's threat on her behalf!"

This seemed to pull Edward out of his trance-like state. "Don't you dare threaten my sister, _dog_," he spat, pushing Bella behind him.

I stood immediately and got in his face. "Just _try_ –"

"Stop it! _STOP!_" yelled Bella. "That's enough!" She gave Edward a loving glance before fixing me with an icy glare. "You will _not_ make threats in my house. And what the hell is the matter with you? Why do you care so much?"

My lips pressed into a hard, thin line. "That doesn't matter. The better question is why don't you care enough?"

Before she could answer, I gingerly grabbed her hand. _Come on, Evie_, I thought. _You can't leave me to handle the Chihuahua on my own._

A moment later, my heart stopped. _What the - ?_ _Did she just squeeze my hand? __**Oh for God's sake, **__I need to stop being such a girl!_

Just as my mind was about to get lost in another barrage of thoughts, Evie's grip tightened on my hand and her eyes snapped open, making me drown in a sea of steel blue.

* * *

**AN: I'm kind of in shock right now - the good kind - over how quickly this chapter came out. I sincerely hope that you enjoy this next chapter in Evie's journey; I promise that we're nowhere near done and if the muses continue being nice to me, I'll have the next chapter up very soon. Shout outs to all those who reviewed and added this story to their favorites or alerts (or who added me to those lists in the author department). Your love and support are what keep this story going. Please continue to R&R! Love you all!**


	12. Chapter 12

**As always, I only own the plot and my original characters**

* * *

**Chapter 12**

_Numbness._

_It wrapped around Evie like a heavy blanket. Here, the blinding pain that had debilitated her as she cast the spell was gone, and in its place was…_

_Nothing._

_No fear, no anxiety, no pain. But no happiness either. On some level, Evie knew that she should be scared, that she shouldn't enjoy the numbness, but she couldn't bring herself to care. She was at peace and that was all she wanted – no…needed._

_Until she felt the heat._

_It seemed to seep through the fog and coil itself over her entire being like a rope, pulling her away from the nothingness - which had turned cold, she noticed. Where she was being pulled to, she didn't know but she didn't care. The warmth soothed her soul and that was all that mattered._

_Then it hit her._

_A cacophony of indiscernible voices thundered through her ears and for a moment, she wanted to run back to the nothingness. The heat, however, kept pulling her forward and as it did so, she felt a pressure on her being – almost like an embrace. She pushed back, forcing herself to somewhat return it and the cacophony got even louder._

_And suddenly…_

**EVIE**

I had to struggle to keep my eyes open as the light hit them.

"You're okay," murmured Paul from above my face. The look in his eyes made my chest tighten; even though I somehow knew he'd never say it out loud, his didn't need to. His eyes said it all: _Thank God_.

It was then that I realized that my hand was boiling hot and I looked down discreetly to see my hand interwoven with Paul's enormous one. I let my fingers lightly rub his palm and gave him a small, shaky smile. "Aren't you supposed to be at a funeral?"

An emotion I couldn't identify flashed through his eyes but just as quick as it had come, it was gone. A small smirk appeared on his face. "Somehow, making sure that Bella wouldn't have to attend another one was more important."

I let out a tiny chuckle, and tried to sit up. "Evie…" started Paul in a warning tone, but I ignored him, instead forcing my legs off the couch.

"I have been on my back way too much in the past two days," I ground out as I forced myself into a seated position. It was only after I was fully upright that I realized just what I'd said. "Damn…I did _not_ mean that as it sounded."

As soon as the words left my mouth, Paul and Jake cracked small smiles and Bella disentangled herself from Edward and came to me, wrapping me in a bear hug.

"Ouch…easy, Bells," I muttered. "Unlike your boy, I need to breathe and I do feel physical pain."

Bella retracted herself, giving me a sheepish grin. "I'm sorry…I'm just glad you're alright," she murmured before flitting back to Edward's side. I nodded, before glancing at Alice. "Sorry that you got hurled into the couch, Alice."

The vampire in question shook her head. "Don't worry about it; I'm just sorry I couldn't help more."

I waved a dismissive hand at her, before glancing at Edward, who'd remained stoically silent the entire time. Bella noticed and was quick to cut through the silence. "Are you sure you're okay?"

I nodded. "I'm fine. But I won't be doing anything like _that_ again any time soon, that's for damn sure." Bella shifted her weight uncomfortably and Edward, who'd remained stoically silent, finally spoke.

"Thank you," he murmured. "For doing this."

Paul growled from beside me and I fixed him with a sharp look, knowing full well that his rage was the last thing we needed. In an instant, he calmed down, and I don't know what shook me more – the fact that he did or the somersault my heart did when my eyes locked with his.

"You're – no, _you're_ welcome," I said, shifting my gaze to Bella. "But if you _ever_ do something that stupid again, you won't have to worry about a fucking redhead." Bella visibly flushed and tugged herself closer to Edward, whose eyebrows had furrowed in confusion.

"Wha-"

Before he could finish asking the question that I knew was coming, I fixed him with a glacial glare. "And _you_. If you ever hurt her again – in _any_ way – you won't have to go to the Vol – whoever the fuck they are; I'll gladly deliver it to you myself." How I'd do that, I had no clue, but there was still time to figure that out.

"Evie, there's no need…" Bella began.

Edward nodded. "I understand. Now, what's this about a redhead? Are you talking about Victoria?"

"Yes she is, Edward," Alice replied somberly. "Victoria attacked them both after Evie stopped her from jumping off one of the cliffs at the beach."

Edward's face immediately hardened. "Why on Earth would you do that?"

"You have _got_ to be kidding me!" I exclaimed, making all eyes swivel to me. "_What?_ I mean given that _you_ were just setting yourself up to be killed because you thought Bella had died, that's a stupid question." Alice glared at me while Paul and Jake tried to muffle their chuckles.

"Evie!" tutted Bella.

"Don't get mad at me for pointing out the truth!"

"That was - !"

Before the spat could progress any more, Alice intervened. "Why don't we let the two of them catch up?" she said. "Besides Evie, I think we should let Nayeli know that you're alright." I couldn't help but notice that Alice shuddered when she said the name.

"So just call her," Paul said, as if it was the easiest solution in the world.

"Something tells me she wouldn't just take my word for it," she said bitterly.

"So must put Evie on the phone if she doesn't."

Alice 'hmmphed' in annoyance. "She still wouldn't believe it, _shifter_. Not unless she saw it with her own two eyes. She has to see you in person; we have to go."

"Are you sure? She didn't seem to happy to see you yesterday," Paul said.

Alice glared at him. "We've already got enough problems with Victoria – we certainly don't need to add an angry witch to the mix."

I ran a hand over my face and let out a sigh of exasperation. "Guys…GUYS!" I yelled, causing the ruckus between Alice and Paul to stop. "For Christ's sake…you both have valid points, so just _chill_ for a second and don't shout – I don't want a headache!"

"We'll take her." Jake's voice was firm, cool and decisive as he spoke for the first time. When Alice looked like she was about to interject, he barreled on. "I'm sure Paul remembers the route, and from what I was _told_…" I couldn't help but notice the glint in his eye when he said that. "…The only person she seemed to have a real problem with was you."

"He speaks! And words of wisdom, to boot," I deadpanned. When I looked over at Alice and saw her stricken look, I couldn't help but sigh.

"Alice…Jacob's right – Paul's more than capable of getting us there and like you said, a pissed off witch is the last thing we need. Besides, you should get in touch with the rest of your…family, let them know Edward's okay."

Alice sighed in resignation, while Jake and Paul exchanged a look. "I'll be back in 15 with your truck, Paul," said Jake, heading toward the door.

Paul looked like Jake had just threatened to cancel Christmas. "What do you mean _my_ truck, Black? And…damn it, the keys were in my suit…"

"No worries," he said, reaching into a pocket and pulling out a set of keys. "I made sure to grab them for you."

Paul's eyes narrowed and I was damn near certain he was going to kill Jake right then and there, but before he could do anything, Jake tore out of the living room with a smile on his face; I couldn't help but notice that it didn't quite reach his eyes.

* * *

Shortly after Jake left, I decided that I couldn't take the tension between Edward and Bella. "Uh…I'm going to freshen up a bit; just because I feel like hell doesn't mean I should look the part."

In a flash, Paul helped me to my feet and walked with me toward the stairs. "Need help?" he asked. Just like yesterday, his eyes were pleading and I couldn't say no even if I wanted to. Instead, I nodded and he trailed me carefully, a hand on my back as I made my way up the stairs.

When we got to Bella's room, I marched inside and went rifling through my bag for my essentials, feeling Paul's eyes on me as he leaned against the door frame.

"Yes, Paul?" I said, trying to go through a mental checklist of all the things I needed.

"I didn't say anything."

"True." I turned to face him. "But you want to; I can feel you staring. What's on your mind?"

Paul stiffened. "Nothing."

I rolled my eyes heavenward. "And that," I said, turning back to actually gather what I needed. "Is what I call a tall glass of bull." _Whatever; it's his business if he wants to tell me or not._

I strode to the door and made to squeeze past Paul but he placed a boiling hand on my shoulder.

"Evie, I…" His dark eyes bore into my own. "You have no idea how relieved I am that you're okay," he said softly.

_Damn, he makes my heart flutter._

"Thank you, Paul…that…that means a lot," I said, trying to keep my voice from breaking. We stood in silence for a few seconds before Paul finally took his hand off of my shoulder. When he did, I darted for the bathroom and cleaned up. As much as I tried to hurry myself up, I couldn't help but feel like I was prepping slowly as I redid my ponytail for the fifth time; suddenly, taking a trip to Nayeli's didn't seem like such a great idea.

A small knock at the door made me jump a foot in the air. "Evie? Are you okay in there?" called Paul.

I ran my hands over my shirt to smooth it out before opening the door and sticking my head out. "Yeah…I'm fine."

Paul shot me a devilish smirk as I walked out of the bathroom.

"That's what I call a tall glass of bull."

* * *

Just as Paul and I finished getting down the stairs, Jake burst through the front door. "Truck's outside," he said briskly. "I'm assuming you're driving?"

"Hell yes," said Paul vehemently, stepping forward.

"Jesus Christ and this is that it's just a car," I muttered, causing Jake to grin. "Imagine if it was a girlfriend."

Paul stilled for a moment and for an instant, I could swear I saw a rose-colored hue creep into his cheeks. Before I could blink, though, the hue was gone. "What can I say? I protect what I love," he said, trying – and failing – to sound nonchalant. "Black, you're in the bed."

My eyes widened. "What? No, no, Paul – I can fit between the two of you," I said. Paul's face contorted into a grimace, and Jake shook his head.

"It's okay, Evie. If the two of us," he said, pointing to Paul and himself. "Try and fit in the cab of that truck, especially with you in it, we'll break it."

I shook my head. Although the cold was a welcome relief from Florida's scorching temperatures for me, it was still freezing, and I didn't want him riding in that cold. "Oh come on, Jake, I'm sure you wouldn't break it. Besides, it's still cold out – too cold to ride in the bed all the way to Port Angeles."

He shook his head. "Trust me, I don't feel it." I must've still looked skeptical because Paul added, "It's a wolf thing; we run at about 108 degrees – the cold doesn't bug us at all. If anything, it's a welcome relief."

Just then, Bella joined us by the stairs and the door, and much to my ire, she was still apparently welded to Edward. "Wait a minute," Bella chirped from beside him. "Why do you have to go, Jake? I'm sure that Paul can handle it without you."

"That doesn't matter," he snapped bitterly. "It could be dangerous. Besides, given the current situation with the redhead, Sam prefers if we pair off anyway – better to have backup and not need it than need it and not have it." He glared at her before glancing at Paul and I. "I'll be in the truck bed. Hurry up so we can get this over with."

Without so much as a 'so long' to Bella, Jake stormed out of the house and if it hadn't been for Paul catching it, I'm sure that Bella and I would've had to explain why the door had been embedded into the wall of the foyer.

"You better not have a fucking temper tantrum in my truck, Black!" Paul called out as he followed Jacob out of the house.

Bella looked as though she'd been slapped, and it took every fiber in me to keep my eyes from rolling. Instead, I hugged her quickly. "Catch up all you want, but make sure that Uncle Charlie doesn't see him – and if he asks, I texted you and decided to go exploring."

"Okay," she said in a small voice. "Text me if you need anything."

I nodded before stepping out of the house. "Freakin' stupid…summons her vamp lover and expects her wolf bestie to be hunky – friggin' – dory," I muttered, stomping to the car.

"You okay?" asked Paul as I threw myself into the passenger's seat of the truck, muttering as I did so.

Taking a breath, I nodded. "Yeah. Now let's get this over with."

* * *

The ride to Nayeli's was quick – not as quick as the one from the day before, but I was more than grateful for that. As soon as we were in the vicinity of Nayeli's shop, Paul started looking for a parking spot.

We ended up having to park one street away because the area was unusually busy for a Saturday afternoon but I didn't mind; the bad feeling that I'd gotten in Bella's bathroom hadn't abated one bit.

"Are you _sure_ you're okay, Evie?" asked Paul as he opened the passenger's side door and helped me out of the truck. "If you want, you can wait for us in the car; it'll only take Jake and I a second."

I shook my head. "No, no…I'm fine. Besides, she probably wouldn't believe I was okay unless she saw me, remember?"

Paul growled. "Damn that," he snapped, but he didn't protest further as he moved to stand on my left while Jacob to the right. Then, in our tiny triangle formation, we took off.

As we walked down the street and made our way toward Nayeli's, that bad feeling suddenly got much, _much_ worse and to my horror, I was overcome with that horrid sense of déjà vu. I closed my eyes, desperately trying to get rid of it, but it only got worse as the vision came into focus.

In an instant, my eyes snapped open and I gasped. "_Shit_."

"What is it?" barked Paul, pulling us to a full stop.

"No, no, no! Keep moving." I tried to keep walking but he and Jake had me trapped. "_Damn_ it guys, keep moving," I hissed, not daring to speak above a whisper. I grasped Paul and Jacob's hands and trucked down the sidewalk, barely managing to pull the two massive men with me.

A few shop doors down, I spotted an alley up ahead. Though the idea that was brewing in my head was a long shot, I had to give it a shot. "Listen to me, both of you, when I squeeze your hands, we're going to turn into that alley up ahead and _run_ like hell, do you understand?"

"Wait, what's going on? What did you see?" whispered Jacob urgently.

"No time!" I squeezed against Paul and Jacob's hands as hard as I could before careening to the right. "_Run_, damn it, _RUN!_" Still grasped tightly to Paul and Jacob, I managed to use their strides as momentum and was sprinting right beside them. For one brief second, I looked back, hoping to God we weren't being followed. _Fuck…why isn't this déjà vu going away?_

The moment I looked ahead, flames erupted in front of us and we jerked to a stop.

"What the f – " swore Jacob as a figure stepped forward from the flames.

My heart lurched in my chest; if my vision was right, we had mere seconds. Paul let out a low growl and I felt him pull me backward, trying to get me behind him.

The figure's face – which was marred with a blend of dark tattoos and deep, angry scars – contorted into one of sick amusement. "So much power…and I don't just mean _you_," he said, pointing to me. "Your _bodyguards_ have it too…"

Another growl ripped through the air, this time from Jacob, but before he could utter a word, there was a flash of light in front of us and – as if she'd formed out of thin air – there was Nayeli.

_Huh…guess this is how the guys felt. _"Nayeli?"

Instead of answering me, Nayeli began to chant; even if she'd been going slowly, I couldn't have understood a word she was saying. As the words flowed from her mouth, the tattooed man started to writhe and scream in pain, only stopping when he exploded in a wave of black particles.

"What the hell did you _do_?" I asked.

Again, I was ignored. "Go to the shop and stay there; I've warded it so you and your shifters will be safe."

"Safe? But what - ?"

"Just _go!_" she snapped. Without another word or thought, the three of us bolted for the shop.

* * *

"Everyone okay?" Paul asked gruffly as he opened the door to the shop.

Jake shook a bit. "Other than severely freaked out, yes." He pulled his hand from mine. "Can you _all_ do that poofing in and out business?"

I shook my head. "To my knowledge, each witch's power is different – at least that's what my mother told me."

Jake nodded but he didn't look convinced at all as he stepped inside. Much like I'd done the day before, he glanced around the shop in a state of semi-wonder.

"That doesn't matter right now – what's important is that she showed up when she did. What about you, Evie? Are you okay?"

"Fine," I murmured, trying to keep my voice steady. Just as I was about to step inside, I felt myself being pulled back and turned, and my eyes soon met Paul's.

"You sure about that?" he asked, his voice much gentler than it had been moments before. As much as I wanted to say yes, something told me that if my mouth opened, all the fear that I'd desperately been trying to hide would gush out so instead I nodded and went into the shop, pretending not to notice Paul's sigh as he followed me.

As soon as the door closed, Nayeli appeared from the back of the store drinking from a teacup. Giving her a tiny nod, I smiled shakily. "You're all alright, yes?" she asked after taking a sip of her drink.

Jake, who'd been engrossed in examining the contents of the shelves, whirled around in surprise (though I couldn't figure out why, given his "superior senses," or so he said). "Yes, we're fine; thank – " His words died away and his face exploded into a million different emotions that I couldn't decipher, except for one – happiness. The smile he gave her was nothing like the one I'd seen yesterday on the beach - this one was a million times more joyful, warm and full of light. _Not even the sun can match it_, I mused.

Nayeli gulped and coughed slightly – no doubt that Jake's expression had caught her off guard. "What's with your friend?" she asked, not breaking eye contact.

"Oh, for Christ's sake!" murmured Paul.

"What?" I asked. "It's just a smile."

"If only it were that simple," Paul ground out.

"Why isn't it?" I asked. By now, Nayeli's eyes were narrowed in either confusion or anger – I couldn't figure out which one - and her mouth had twisted downward. "What? What am I missing here?" I repeated.

Instead of answering, Paul stepped closer to Jake and punched him in the arm, causing him to break his gaze from Nayeli and turn to growl and glare at Paul. "What the _hell_, Paul?" he spat.

Before Paul could speak, I interjected. "As you can see, we're fine," I said brightly to Nayeli. "Thank you for showing up when you did, Nayeli – I don't know what we would've done…"

"Not a problem. Thankfully, I wasn't too far away."

That seemed to pull Jake from his angry staring contest with Paul. "How did you get there so fast? Are you like Evie?"

"Not in the way you'd think," she muttered. "You didn't really see _me_ at all."

"What?" I asked, my own eyebrows narrowing in confusion. "Of course we did, you were right there."

"_No_," she repeated, dragging out the 'o' as she made her way behind the counter. "That was my astral projection. If it had been me, I would've used my power and not a vanquishing spell." I opened my mouth but before I could, she leaned over the counter and glanced at me. "So, what brings you back here? Thought you could convince me without the _vampira _around?" The edge in her voice was as sharp as a sword.

"Actually," I said, trying not to sound icy or too proud of myself. "I managed to summon Edward back here, and…I'm fine!"

Nayeli's stern expression turned downright lethal. "_What_?"

"She summoned him," Paul repeated, stepping slightly in front of me, as if to protect me from her glare.

Nayeli glared at him for a moment before turning back to me. "Tell me something Evie, had you ever met him before?"

"What, Edward?"

"_Yes, _Edward. Had you ever met him or formed a connection with him before you cast the spell?"

Now I was starting to get nervous. "Uh…no. Alice showed me his picture but I…"

Nayeli waved her hand at me, silencing me. "Did you at least cast a circle?"

I shook my head slowly. "No…I just…"

One of the jars on a shelf behind Nayeli burst, sending shards of glass and herbs in every direction behind her. "_Shit_," she swore, running her hand along the back of her neck.

Paul shoved me behind him unceremoniously and growled at Nayeli, causing Jacob to growl and semi-sprang forward. "Are you okay?" he asked her, worry apparent in his tone.

"I'm fine," she spat. Nayeli grabbed a broom that was beside the shelf and began to sweep, muttering under her breath.

"So she summoned him, so what?" Paul hissed. "That's better than killing herself trying to get from country to country and back again."

Nayeli scoffed and set the broom against the counter before stepping out from behind the counter, hands on her hips. "No, actually, it's not. Because instead of killing herself, she's now got people – if you can call them that – willing to take care of that for her."

"What?" growled Paul.

"I don't understand," I said at the same time.

Nayeli let out an exasperated, angry noise. "That demon I vanquished wasn't any demon, Evie. He was a tracker demon. And if my hunch is right, those vampires – the ones that _Edward_ went to, the Volturi – sent him to find and kill you."

* * *

**Author's Note: Hi Readers! First and foremost, my sincerest apologies for the length of time that it's taken to get this chapter up. To all of you that have read/reviewed/alerted/etc., I thank you. Your feedback and support are what keep this story alive.**

**So, it appears that Evie managed to get Edward back, but as Nayeli promised, with SEVERE consequences. And judging from Jake's reaction, we'll be seeing a lot more of Nayeli. As always, R&R. Evie and I appreciate it. ;)**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

**PAUL**

Usually, I was surrounded by nothing but noise. Conversations, music, an argument one street over, an endless stream of consciousness (though that depended on whether I was furry or not), animals, the wind – everything around me melded together into one never-ending symphony of everyday sounds.

Because of that, I not only craved silence but I relished it – most of the time, anyway.

Now was not one of those times.

As I drove back to Forks, I stole glances at Evie. Her gaze hadn't moved from the window since she got in the truck and the silence that had fallen after we'd left Nayeli's shop had grown thick and heavy with tension.

Now as we pulled onto Bella's street, I tried to split my vision between Evie and the road, wishing that it was longer. Just as I opened my mouth to say something, there was a burst of blue light and Evie was gone.

"Fuck," I hissed. Rather than keep my slow pace, I gunned it and swerved into the Swan's driveway. Jacob thumped on the back window of the cab as I turned the car off and jumped out.

"This isn't NASCAR, Paul," he growled at me as he jumped from the truck bed.

"Screw off, Black!" I snapped back as I stormed toward the front door of the house. _Damn pup's lucky I didn't kill him in Port Angeles. _"You better not have put a dent in my truck, pup – don't give me more of a reason to kick your sorry ass six ways from Sunday!"

Jacob was about to reply but the door flew open, revealing the pixie vamp. "Would one of you mind telling me what happened at Nayeli's?" she said, trying to stare us down.

I shoved past her. "Where is she?"

Bella rushed toward me. "What _happened _to her, Paul? I won't let you see her until I know what you did to her!"

"What _I_ did? What happened?" I scoffed at her. "I didn't do a damn thing. As for what happened – **you** happened!"

"What are you talking about?" she said, raising her chin at me. Though the gesture was supposed to convey confidence, her eyes were scared.

"Because of **you** and your stunt and your leeches," I spat, glaring at Edward and Alice. "She's got a target the size of Texas on her back!"

Bella started to shake. "I thought you said you could handle Victoria – "

"He doesn't mean the redhead." Jake's voice was hard and razor-sharp, finally breaking his silence. "Evie – we – were attacked today by a demon."

"That has nothing to do with Bella," spat Edward.

"It has everything to do with her!" I roared. Before any of them could say another word, I took a breath and picked out Evie's scent, following it up the stairs into Bella's room. I could hear her pacing, her breath coming out in ragged spurts. Testing the doorknob and finding it locked, I knocked.

* * *

**EVIE**

_Stupid, stupid, fucking stupid!_

The mantra had been playing in my head nonstop since Nayeli gave me one of the harshest tongue-lashings of my life, and had gotten louder after I'd bolted from Paul's truck. That had perhaps been a stupid move, but at the time, all I could think of was getting the hell out of dodge.

Even now, in the safety of Bella's room, I felt like I was at Nayeli's shop all over again and I could swear that if it hadn't been for Paul, the witch would've killed me.

_-Flashback-_

"That demon I vanquished wasn't any demon, Evie. He was a tracker demon. And if my hunch is right, those vampires – the ones that _Edward_ went to, the Volturi – sent him to find and kill you."

"_What?_" ground out Paul and Jacob as I gasped.

Another jar exploded somewhere in the shop. "Didn't you hear _ANYTHING_ I said yesterday? You're _new_! You know what that means? That you _don't_ know how to control your powers, that you _don't_ know the rules, don't know how to work your magic properly, and that you don't know or _understand_ the consequences that come with lack of caution or control!" Nayeli snapped, getting in my face.

"And this demon is one of those consequences?" Paul demanded gruffly, pulling me away from her.

"Absolutely," she said coldly. "Probably the first of many."

I tried not to shake or show my fear. "I don't understand. How did he find me? And why would he be the first of many? You killed him, didn't you? That's the end of it."

"You _wish_ it was," Nayeli snarled. "You think those _vampiros_ will stop just because their little messenger is dead? They'll just send another, and another, and another. And if they can't find you, they'll find a way to draw you out using whatever and _whoever_ they can to draw you out."

"Stop with the scare tactics," Paul commanded.

"You think I'm blowing smoke, _shifter_? Let me ask you, how long have you been how you are?" Paul's eyes narrowed. "A wolf," she supplied when Paul didn't answer. "What, a year? Two?" She scoffed. "You have no idea what's out there."

"Oh and you _do_?" Paul nearly shouted, causing Jacob to growl.

Nayeli's eyes turned cold and distant. "Yes; I've seen firsthand what's out there…too many times. And when you start to see it too…when people you love start ending up maimed or dead…" Her eyes snapped to me. "You'll know exactly who to _thank._" She stormed to the back of the store, but not before slamming her hand down on the counter.

-_End Flashback_-

_I have to get out of here. I have to warn my mom. I have to…I have to…_

What little I'd unpacked the night before was strewn about Bella's bed as I tried to bury it in my backpack, which now seemed to have a molecular capacity.

My mind was going into overdrive. What had I done?

A knock at the door made me jump. "Leave me alone, Bella!" I yelled.

"It's not Bella." Paul's voice rumbled through, a lot softer and gentler than it had been earlier. "Can I come in, Evie?"

When I didn't answer, Paul spoke again. "Come on, Evie…please?"

My mind was screaming _No_, but before I knew what was happening, I was opening the door. Paul's eyes wandered all over the room before settling on the ton of crap on Bella's bed.

"What are you doing?" he asked. I could tell that he was trying to sound calm but his eyes were raging. _Why does that bug me?_

I turned away and headed for the bed. "I'm…Paul, I…I can't stay here." I resumed the battle royale against my backpack. "I did what I had to do, and now, I need to get home and warn my mother and…"

My heart seized in my chest. "Hey…hey…Evie, slow down. You…"

"I can't stay here!" I said. "You heard what Nayeli said. I have to go back and protect my mom. She has to…I have to warn her…I have to go, now."

* * *

**PAUL**

Panic welled within me as she spoke the words. "No…Evie…" But she wasn't paying me any mind; instead, she was shoveling more and more of her crap into the bag, trying desperately to get it to fit.

I grabbed her shoulder and turned her away from the junk. "Evie! Listen to me: you're not going anywhere."

Evie squirmed against my hold. "Yes, I am. Now let me go."

"It's not safe," I countered, holding her fast.

"Exactly! Let me _go_, Paul. That's exactly the point!" Her squirming graduated to pushing against me with all her strength. "Damn it, Paul, _let go!_"

"Don't you get it?" I said, as I fought against my wolf. On the one hand, it wanted to let her go, comply with her every request. On the other, it craved to assert more dominance but I knew if I did, I could and more than likely would scare her away for good. "If you use your magic, you could end up leaving a trail that leads another demon right to you. You can't take that risk."

"What I can't risk is my Mom getting hurt – or you…any of you! I need to go, and warn her and get away from you guys as fast as possible."

Something inside me snapped. "I'm not letting you leave here on a _whim_, Evie! I'm not going to risk you getting killed!" I shouted.

"What the f – Who do you think you are?!" Evie's eyes blazed and she managed to yank herself from me. "You do _not_ have the right to tell me what to do, Paul Rose!"

"Well, _someone_ has to! Do you seriously think it's okay to risk yourself like this _again_?"

"_YES!_" she exploded. "If it means protecting Bella, Charlie and my mom, yes!"

"Even if that risk ends in your death?"

Evie growled and her eyes filled up with tears. "Don't _you_ getit? They're all I've got! If I don't risk my life…then fuck, you might as well kill me too!" Her body trembled, almost as if she was a shifter changing for the first time.

Before I could stop myself, I'd wrapped my arms around her. "It won't come to that. I promise."

"You don't know that," she said, her voice slightly muffled from tears.

"I _do_." I pulled away. "Evie…trust me when I tell you that you're not alone here. Jake and the rest of us…leeches included…won't let harm come to you. Or the ones you love." _Not after what she's done for them…they owe her; let's hope they see it that way. _"Okay?"

Evie nodded, rubbing the remaining tears from her eyes and took a deep, shuddering breath. "Okay."

I finally let go, silently letting out a sigh of relief. As I backed up, I fought the urge to go running back to her. "You should probably call your mom. Just…let her know about _everything_. Maybe she'll have some insight that _witch_ didn't have."

* * *

**EVIE**

"You did _what_?"

About an hour later, long after we'd gotten Charlie's house back to normal, I managed to work up the courage to call my mother and fill her in on everything that had happened since my return – including the session with Nayeli.

"Mom…"

"After I _specifically_ told you to be careful, to avoid exposure, you went and did this? Evelyn, do you realize the danger you've put yourself in?"

I paced around Bella's bedroom, which I'd run away to when I realized it was time to call my mom. "Mom, I had to! If I hadn't, what would've stopped Bella from going? She was planning on leaving Charlie again…"

Mom's breath hitched. "There were _other ways_, Evelyn," she hissed.

"None that would've been done in time." When Mom didn't speak, I pressed on. "Mom, she's an innocent. One of us. You told me that this is what we do…help the innocent."

From what I could tell, Mom had slapped her hand down on a counter. "I _know_ that. But for Christ's sake, why didn't you call me?"

"I…" What could I say to that? "I wasn't thinking. All I knew was that a member of my family was in danger. And I didn't want to put you on that list." _When people you love start ending up maimed or dead, you'll know who to __**thank**__. _Nayeli's prophetic words rang in my head and made my eyes fill with tears."But it looks like I have anyway," I said, my voice breaking.

"It won't come to – "

From downstairs, I heard a loud snarl and a growl that nearly shook the house. My heart clenched in my chest.

"Mom, I gotta run. But please, promise me you'll stay safe, okay?"

My mother practically snorted on the phone. "The same applies to you, Evie. Love you."

"Love you too, Ma," I said, before ending the call and racing down the stairs.

The snarls and growls got louder as I descended into the living room. "What the…Nayeli? What are you doing here?"

"That's what I want to know," hissed Paul, inching closer to the witch. Jacob, meanwhile, was growling his head off at Paul.

If Nayeli was fazed by Paul's aggression, she didn't let on at all. "I came to talk to you…to apologize for what happened at the shop." She broke eye contact with Paul and glanced at me. "Maybe if your body guard would _back off_, I could do that."

"Shame for you that I won't," Paul growled, causing Jacob to push in front of Nayeli.

"Paul!" I snapped, right as Jacob was pushed away, halfway across the living room. All at once the house was silent, Jacob and Paul's fury replaced by complete astonishment, judging by the way their jaws hit the floor.

"Thanks for the concern," Nayeli muttered to Jacob. "But I can handle myself."

An emotion I couldn't place flashed across Jacob's features, but he quickly schooled his face, as Nayeli stepped closer to me. It was then that I noticed that she had a bag in one hand.

When she caught me staring at the bag, she spoke. "Like I said, I want to apologize. One of a witch's greatest urges is to protect, and you had to protect your own."

Paul, who'd moved to stand beside me, snorted. Nayeli rolled her eyes before continuing.

"If you'll let me help you…I can show you how to make it a little harder for the trackers to find you."

I could feel my eyebrow scrunch. "How?"

"More importantly," said Paul. "Why? After your ranting and raving, why should we trust you? Why should she even let you near herself? And how the fuck did you find her?"

Nayeli's eyes locked on Paul's. "Because right now, I'm the best chance you've got. You know about vampires; the method of their destruction is in your blood, your legends. But magic – more importantly, how to _use_ it – is my arena. I know you want to keep her safe; the best way to do that is to teach her how to use her gifts and defend herself. Unless of course you really think that your pack can afford to be split in that many directions." Nayeli paused. "As for how I found her, that's for me…and eventually _her_ to find out, shifter."

Paul took a breath, seemingly choosing to ignore the last part of her statement. "What do you know?"

Nayeli frowned. "Your powers only manifest when a vampiric threat is near. And judging by your tension at my last statement…and the story I was told yesterday…there's one you haven't caught yet." A low growl ripped from Paul's throat. Ignoring him, Nayeli turned to me. "So, what'll it be? Will you let me help you?"

Before I could think twice, I nodded. "Show me what you've got."

* * *

An hour later, the living room – and the rest of the house - had been cleansed and thoroughly warded. Throughout the process, Bella and the others had scattered – she, Edward and Alice had gone back to Edward's family's place at the edge of the forest, while Paul and Jacob had taken residence in the backyard. Now, as Nayeli blew out the candles of the circle that we had cast, she eyed me.

"What?" she asked.

I shifted unconsciously before answering. "Why are you helping me?" When the edges of her mouth turned down, I elaborated. "Not that I don't appreciate it, I do. It's just…you don't…well, you didn't seem like you were keen on helping us, or me, after what I had done."

Nayeli stood, and looked me straight in the eye. "I wasn't. But believe it or not, I know what it's like to want to protect the ones you love with everything you have. And I was a beginner once, too. Things moving across the room without so much as a finger wiggle. But if you truly learn your craft, learn to work _with _it, you'll become its master.

I must've shot her a doubtful look because she continued. "Trust me…you'll get it. Now come on; there's something else I need to teach you."

* * *

"One more time, Evelyn."

I growled at Nayeli. "You've said that twice now."

Before Nayeli could reply, Paul stormed back into the house. "Why are you pushing her so hard? You're the one that said that if she pushes too hard, she could die!"

Nayeli's eyes narrowed. "I know what I said, Evelyn. You won't always have the tools at hand to create a strong circle, so you need to know how to get the strength from within." To Paul she said, "Trust me, this isn't pushing it at all. Pushing it was that damn summoning spell."

Paul scoffed. "Like _you_ know her limits. For all we know, you could kill her."

Nayeli's eyes were now angry slits. "Apparently, she doesn't, either. As for killing people, if she doesn't know how to properly cast a circle, her magic will go haywire. Think of this: when you blow up a building in a controlled explosion, you control the damage. But if it's not, it can destroy hundreds. Without the proper control, her magic will feed on any other magic it can find and it _could_ prove lethal."

As much as he tried to hide it, I could see Paul wince. _What? Why's he wincing?_ I thought.

Nayeli canted her head to the side. "But something tells me you knew that."

"What's she talking about?" I asked as I focused on creating the circle in my mind.

"Uh…"

"Never mind that," Nayeli said dismissively. "Come on, concentrate." Just as I was about to protest, Nayeli silenced me with a glare.

Maybe it was that I wanted the whole thing over with. Maybe I was annoyed with not knowing what Nayeli was talking about. Maybe it was just that I finally had more mental clarity. Whatever it was, I felt the circle form within my very core, stronger than any previous attempt.

"_Very_ good!" said Nayeli, her eyes shining. "Your energy is _much _more stable than it was before. Now just do it like that every time and you'll be golden."

Slowly, I broke the circle and moved to the couch. "Thanks," I murmured.

For a moment it looked like Nayeli was going to say something. Instead, she pulled a card out of her back pocket and, after searching for and acquiring a pen, she scrawled something on it. "If you need any help…"

An unknown emotion passed through Nayeli's eyes as she handed me the card, but just as quick as it had appeared, it was gone and her face was blank once more. "Thank you," I murmured.

"Not a problem. Be safe."

* * *

The moment she was gone, Paul was in front of me. "How do you feel?"

I took a breath before answering, trying to come up with that answer myself. "Fine," I muttered. "Confused, but fine."

Paul's eyebrows scrunched as he knelt down in front of me. "Why confused?"

I gestured to the spot that Nayeli had just vacated. "I just…after what she said at the shop, I guess I didn't expect her help."

From Paul's expression, I could tell that he was baffled about it too, and I could've sworn he muttered "If anybody'll find out her true motives, it'll be Jake," under his breath, but I was so caught up with what Nayeli had said before.

"Hey Paul?"

"Hmm?"

I mulled over my words for a moment. "What was Nayeli talking about before? About how you knew my magic could be lethal?"

* * *

**PAUL**

No sooner had the words left Evie's mouth, I tensed. Of **course** my imprint would remember that stupid remark the witch made out of all the crazy supernatural crap we'd had to deal with.

"She was probably just talking big. Trying to psych us all out," I said, rubbing the back of my neck and getting back to my full height.

The glare that Evie shot me was so sharp that I could almost feel it piercing through me like a knife. "Is that why you winced?" she asked.

"Yes," I said. It wasn't a lie. The words of the witch had brought back horrible memories of what had happened only hours before, and had made me picture Evie killing herself. What she didn't know was that the pain I'd felt was worse than anything that Sam or Jared had ever described (or felt – thank you, pack mind).

Evie surveyed my face, searching for something. "There's something you're not telling me."

Thankfully, I was saved from answering when Jacob stalked back into the house, an unreadable expression on his face. "Let's go, Paul," he muttered. "Don't want there to be even _more_ talk about our disappearing act on the Rez."

"Disappearing…oh! My God, the funeral…" said Evie. Before I could blink, she was on her feet. "How are you guys holding up?" Suddenly, her eyes went wide. "Please don't tell me that this…that we made you miss it. Oh God…"

"Hey, hey…we tore out of there when the service was done. The reception's all we missed," I said quickly.

"_Crap_," Evie murmured. "I'm so sorry, guys." She took a shuddering breath.

"Evie, you really don't need to be. I know that Harry would've understood," said Jake.

Wordlessly, Evie went to Jacob and enveloped him in a hug before doing the same to me. As much as I tried to tell myself that I didn't want her, that I hated being hugged and that I should rip her away from myself, I couldn't help but melt into the comforting touch. "I am so sorry for your loss," she murmured. "And I want you to know how much I appreciate you being here…and if there's anything I can do for _any_ of you…"

I shook my head against her neck. "Just knowing you're safe is enough.


End file.
